Professors advising me, colleagues at universities, and classmates remind me that as I prepare to return to the academic job market, I need a clear research agenda. A niche that defines me to search committees. I complained about over-specialization 12 years ago on this very blog.
When asked to summarize my research projects I fumble a bit, which is a problem. Colleagues have helped refine my elevator pitch, yet it remains something that leaves people puzzled.
As a scholar and creative artist, I am interested in how issues of economics are conveyed in the media by economists and others engaged in public policy debates. Dovetailing from this is a research interest in the economics of rhetoric — the theory that economic theories of production and consumption apply to human communication.
Beyond the theses and dissertation, much of my work revolves around the economics of media (our modern agora) and the rhetoric of economics.
Economics is the study of scarcity and allocation of limited resources, including human capital. All messages compete for the scarce resource of audience engagement.
Now, consider how closely these two interests align. Economists and others engaged in policy debates know that people have limited energy to and interest in consuming complex information about resource allocation. It takes a long time to explain the capital costs behind any interaction. Worse, people respond emotionally despite hidden costs to what intuition and impulse might suggest is the best choice.
I ask what works and why when offering stories to audiences, especially stories that shape economic beliefs and knowledge. As it happens, you can apply audience engagement measures to any narrative event. What connects with an audience and can we model what audiences want from narratives? (Yes, you can model data on narratives and what “sells” and what wins awards and what nobody wants.)
My various degree research projects all relate to the design of writing spaces, as knowing what works is also key to knowing what could be “sold” to users. If spaces don’t encourage engagement, they are economically unsound investments. The time and computing power invested, not only the money, could have been better allocated.
MA: How poor learning management system design (LMS UI/UX) creates online spaces that hinder the writing process and teacher mentoring of students. Also: The cost of LMS design and compliance with legal mandates for usability.
Ph.D: The experiences of special needs students in online settings, from commercial spaces to games to learning spaces and which spaces are best designed.
Where do people voluntarily embrace media-text creation and what are the traits of those spaces? Also: Compliance testing costs and why colleges push students with special needs into online courses.
MFA: Typographical choices and audience reactions to those choices in cinema and television.
Other Research Papers: Women and minority inequality within design fields and why diversity has actually gone “backwards” since the 1920s and 30s.
I need to pitch these two interests, “rhetoric of economics” and “economics of rhetoric,” to potential university employers more effectively. Unfortunately, I fear rhetoricians misunderstand “economics” as often as other disciplines misinterpret “rhetoric” as a discipline.
Photo by bjornmeansbear 