Bree McEwan, a professor in the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology at the University of Toronto-Mississauga and founder of the Questioning Reality Conference, visited the University of Connecticut on Thursday, Oct. 4, to present her findings on the intersection of interpersonal communication and various forms of communication technology. The event was held in the Arjona Building and featured a panel consisting of graduate students and faculty from the Department of Communication.
McEwan also serves as the Associate Director of the University of Toronto and is the author of the 2015 book “Navigating Media Networks: Understanding and Managing Challenges in a Networked Society.” In addition, she has constructed a research lab, the McEwan Mediated Communication Lab, where she studies how people experience human interaction in virtual reality (VR) and utilize communication technologies more broadly. One of the lab’s recently funded projects was with a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grant, exploring how VR headsets can enhance educational outcomes by testing learning under different conditions of immersion and cognitive load.
McEwan has been studying the connection between individuals and communication-mediated technology for more than two decades. At Arizona State University, where she obtained her Ph.D. in Human Communication, one of McEwan’s publications focused on relational violence and the dark sides of haptic communication.
“In grad school, I began to question why people do this,” McEwan said. “Why do people lean on these forms of technology for self-fulfillment?”
In this discussion, however, McEwan brought technological devices, such as VR, to the forefront of her presentation, offering insight into how, in McEwan’s words, “constructed meanings are woven through technologies.” McEwan also brought up the idea of “affordances,” a concept defined by not only the features of a technological device alone, but how people perceive the technology and what it allows them to do. For example, an iPhone serves not just the purpose of allowing its users to call and message somebody, but also brings them various forms of entertainment, such as video games.
“I had the benefit of all these arguments regarding social media,” McEwan said.
She emphasized that affordances are not fixed or the same for all users and that different users in different contexts perceive affordances differently. She also argued that the idea of affordances applies not just to technological devices, but also to simple, everyday objects, such as chairs, tables and classrooms, “all of which, McEwan said, “can serve different purposes.”
In addition to the affordance’s topic, McEwan also covered the theory of the niche, which argues that just because a certain technological device is new doesn’t necessarily mean that consumers would want to buy it.
“The media may fulfill specific niches where a medium’s characteristics ‘amplify or attenuate opportunities,’” McEwan told her audience.
After the presentation, McEwan allowed students and faculty to ask questions and provide feedback on the subject matter covered. One graduate student, who asked to remain anonymous, said that McEwan’s presentation had been enjoyable and insightful, offering fresh insight into the complex relationship between humans and technology.
“As a graduate student, I feel that Prof. McEwan’s speech has definitely helped me gain a better understanding of communication technology and how we as communication scholars can better understand the psychological mechanisms behind consumer use,” they said. “Not only that, but it’s helped me better understand why I’m studying what I’m studying.”
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