In my research, I use rhetoric and cultural studies to bridge the disciplinary gaps that have traditionally separated design communication from the humanities. My research in new media communication explores cultural and design issues in electronic discourse and hypermedia, especially those related to computer-mediated pedagogy.
My training in literary and cultural studies with an emphasis in 19th- and 20th-century American culture gives me a basis from which to examine the role electronic media can play in fostering attitudes and practices central to critical thinking, cultural analysis, and argumentation. I am particularly interested in the experiential dimension of multimedia--the role that structure, interface, and functionality play in constructing computer-mediated experiences and shaping the significance of those experiences for users. I currently am completing Griffith In Context: A Multimedia Exploration of The Birth of a Nation, a project sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities; this multimedia application, developed in conjunction with Dr. Ellen Strain of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is designed to help undergraduate students explore both the cultural impact and the cinematic innovations of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation.
Other aspects of my research explore the limits of electronic representation and computer-mediated interaction, especially application designs that highlight the socially constructed nature of cultural meaning or prompt investigation of the boundaries between "virtual" and "real" experience.