University of Wisconsin–Madison

Tag: Faculty Publication

Streaming in the Time of the Plague: Covid-19, Prosthetic Sociality and Comfort TV

Amidst the Covid-19 pandemic, streaming television subscriptions and media consumption surged at an unprecedented scale in the U.S. While audiences turned to streaming TV to cope with the lockdown, streaming platforms experimented with content delivery and packaging to adapt to emerging viewership trends. In this mixed-method study that combines surveys and focus groups with undergraduate …

Chatbots and Loneliness: How Linguistic Dynamics in Conversations with Chatbots Shape Young Adults’ Loneliness

Loneliness has recently been declared a public health epidemic by the U.S. Surgeon General, with young adults particularly at risk (Office of the Surgeon General, 2023). Over one in four young adults report frequent loneliness, and although rates have declined since their COVID-19 pandemic peak, young adults continue to report higher loneliness than any other …

Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture Professor Dr. Jenell Johnson Publishes a New Book on the Meaning of “Life”

Dr. Jenell Johnson, a professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, has recently published a new book entitled Every Living Thing: The Politics of Life in Common (Penn State University Press, 2023). We interviewed Dr. Johnson about how she took on such an interesting project, the difference between writing her first and …

Communication Arts Assistant Professor Dr. Allison Prasch Publishes a New Book on Presidential Rhetoric and the Cold War

Dr. Allison Prasch, an assistant professor of Rhetoric, Politics, and Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, has recently published a new book entitled The World is Our Stage: The Global Rhetorical Presidency and the Cold War (University of Chicago Press, 2023). We caught up with Dr. Prasch to learn more about her book, her …