Georgetown University LogoResearch: Constructing Social Presence in a Mediated, Multicommunicative Environment

Sponsor: Georgetown University: Competitive Grant in Aid Program 2017

Professor: Dr. Jeanine Turner


You have always needed to create compelling messages. Now you also need to figure out how to break through the digital distractions that interrupt your conversations and presentations with your audiences. How do you craft and control your presentation taking into consideration communications that are going on simultaneously? Do you ask for the technology to be put away? Establish groundrules? What are your tactical choices when facing ubiquitous digital communications? And what about using them to your advantage—how can you facilitate information sharing in the midst of this over-mediated context? This research explores the choices available to individuals for communicating social presence through the analysis of 15 in-depth interviews with executives that are wrestling with these challenges. It is part of a larger project that explores how the ability to engage in multiple conversations at once is changing the nature of interpersonal and organizational interaction.