All posts by Matthew Swayne

Science & Technology

Apps and art: New version of app ready for festival

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The fields of arts and sciences will connect on the streets of State College and Penn State’s University Park campus this week to help visitors get the best of the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.

The College of IST’s Center for Human-Computer Interaction is again working with the Arts Festival to develop a mobile application. Over the years, each version of the app retained its core features, such as a schedule and program of events, location data, and profiles of the visiting artists and performers. The researchers have experimented with various types of social features and interactions in previous versions. In 2014, for example, the app was used to play a “selfie” game among attendees, and last year’s app included a set of profile-style interest categories and a series of social media inspired interactions, such as the ability to create custom events for the festival program.

Continue reading Apps and art: New version of app ready for festival →

Science & Technology, Society & Culture

The lure of grandkids draws seniors to social media

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If there was ever an example of the viral nature of social media, it’s the creation of Facebook. The social media site went from a site for Harvard students to a global phenomenon.

The slickness and simplicity of the site, along with the ability to share pictures and updates with their friends from around campus — and around the world — have all been mentioned as reasons for using the social media site.

Now, according to work done by Penn State researchers, those same interface features and social media bonding experiences are prompting older adults to join the site.

Oh. And there’s one more reason: the lure of grandchildren…

Our researchers, Eun Hwa Jung, a doctoral candidate in mass communications and S. Shyam Sundar, Distinguished Professor of Communications and co-director of the Media Effects Research Laboratory, explain that lure and more.  Continue reading The lure of grandkids draws seniors to social media →

Health & Medicine, Science & Technology, Society & Culture

Fear itself: Disease outbreak reports could cause health problems

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“There is evidence that fear of disaster or disease can bring about coronary heart disease, a weakened immune system, and psychological distress,” says James Dillard. “In the case of Zika, women of child-bearing age who are attentive to media coverage might be particularly vulnerable to the type of fear that can have health repercussions.”

Aedes aegypti , one of the transmitters Zika virus. Wikimedia Commons
Aedes aegypti , one of the transmitters Zika virus. Wikimedia Commons

Less than two years after the Ebola scare spread through the country, the threat of a Zika virus outbreak is starting to frighten Americans, according to a team of Penn State researchers.

The fear of these diseases, however, may end up affecting more people’s health and causing more disruption to society than the diseases themselves, said James Dillard, professor of communication arts and sciences.  Continue reading Fear itself: Disease outbreak reports could cause health problems →

Earth & Environment, Society & Culture

Mixed messages can create hazy climate change understanding

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Ice melt Northwestern Glacier Alaska
Northwestern Glacier. With few exceptions, glaciers around the world have retreated at unprecedented rates over the last century. Left: 1940 photo taken by unknown photographer Right: 2005 photo taken by Bruce F. Molnia. Courtesy of the Glacier Photograph Collection, National Snow and Ice Data Center/World Data Center for Glaciology.

If you gave a weather report on climate change, you would need to issue two forecasts. For climate scientists — at least 97 percent of them — it’s absolutely clear and bright: global climate change is happening and humans are the primary cause. For the general populace, it’s cloudy and unpredictable: while they believe the climate is changing, only half say it’s humans who are at fault, according to Eric Plutzer, professor of political science and academic director of the Survey Research Center, Penn State, and his colleagues.

The researchers report in the current issue of Science that the key to this discrepancy may lie in how climate science is being taught in schools. Science teachers are offering lessons in climate science, it seems, but their own values and knowledge may be causing a mixed message for students.

I caught up with Plutzer for a brief question and answer on this paper, which was published yesterday afternoon.

Keep reading for the Q&A.  Continue reading Mixed messages can create hazy climate change understanding →

Science & Technology, Society & Culture

20 Companies on Fortune’s Most Admired List That Get Social Media

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Researchers found that many companies on Fortune Magazine’s list of most admired companies had lots of room for social media improvement.

But according to Marcia DiStaso, who is an associate professor of public relations at Penn State, and her fellow researchers, there are companies on the list that are killing it on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. According to DiStaso, these companies are using best social media practices to get the word out about their companies on social media, but more than that they are creating relationships that can turn customers and consumers into brand advocates.  Continue reading 20 Companies on Fortune’s Most Admired List That Get Social Media →