Amanda Stojanov, M.F.A.

Nick:

Welcome back folks to a, a, another episode of our professor profiles here at Monmouth university in the department of communication. I am Nick Messina specialist, professor of communication in media studies and production, along with my colleague, Matt Harmon. Uh, we’ve been sitting down getting to know some of the members of our department. What makes us tick? What makes us great. This is a very, uh, special professor profile stay. This is our first socially distanced one. Uh, believe it or not. So calling you with me right now is the assistant professor of digital media. The co-principal investigator at the IDM research lab, the co-founder avoid lab decentralizing the web, the advisor of art. Now the advisor of spectrum individual featured on canvas and fem magazine professor Amanda Stojanov thank you for joining us, Amanda.

Amanda:

Hi Nick. Hi professor Messina. Thank you for having me today. I’m really excited to be here.

Nick:

Uh, this’ll be nice. Uh, full con you know, full context or full disclosure. Amanda and I had sat down or professor [inaudible] and I had sat down a little over a year, year and a half ago at this point to try and do something similar. And in retrospect it was not great when we first met. So we decided let’s give this another shot this time around, um, you are the newest still, you are the newest faculty member, full-time faculty member here in the department of communication. Um, again with, uh, with one of our newer programs and some of our newer courses with digital media. Um, so I want you to, again, real quick, tell us, tell us a little bit, you know, where’d you come from beforehand and, um, again, what is it that you’re, you’re doing downstairs in that phenomenal IDM lab of ours?

Amanda:

Yeah. Um, please feel free to call me Amanda from here on out. Um, so I came directly from Los Angeles to New Jersey, whoever, um, living here. It’s not my first time I’m alumni of Monmouth university. So I went here as an undergrad. I did a graphic design bachelor’s of fine arts, and then, um, worked in advertising, went on to get my master’s in fine arts from UCLA in, um, digital media, and then worked out there for several years in advertising and in education teaching at universities like UCLA, um, Loyola, Marymount university and art center, college of design. And then I came here and, um, since being here, I’ve been able to teach classes, like you mentioned some of the new year classes in digital media. So, uh, those are like introduction to digital media, um, responsive media, which is a combination of, um, projection mapping developing in 3d game engines, like unity, learning to code JavaScript and what we call creative coding. And currently I’m teaching, um, user experience and user interaction design for undergrads, as well as a IDM studio class for grads where we’re working with, uh, JavaScript again, creative coding, we’re working with spark AR, which is a brand new augmented reality software, um, by Facebook. And, um, then we’re gonna move on to VR.

Speaker 3:

Wow. I’m shocked that we were able to even put this time aside.

Amanda:

That’s not even the half of it, but we’re all busy. I appreciate you being here also.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, comparatively speaking, I had some time on my hands were, were good in that regard. Um, you know what, I think that there’s often a lot of confusion about what digital media is a lot of times. Um, and, and, and just based on that whole litany of, of classes that you teach and places you’ve been beforehand advertising, you know, with formal art institutes and, and things of that, like, what is, what is your definition perhaps, or what is the most tangible, uh, definition of digital media?

Amanda:

Yeah. So digital media is, um, broad and sort of like all-inclusive in a sense almost every degree on campus uses forms of digital media. If you’re just speaking about computers and, you know, um, who the Google softwares and such things like that, um, what works, speaking of more specifically as like interactive digital media and emerging technologies, um, and focusing on how those are relevant to the communication field, some of that being, you know, what are the new technologies being used for, um, audio and visual techniques and how can emerging technologies continue, uh, continue to broaden the field? Um, so one example is, um, I guess podcasting, so, you know, radio was sort of one, um, area where you’re broadcasting from a station and now with podcasting, you can create a lot of people are creating, um, those storytelling, you know, hubcasts from their homes in their closets, uploading them to our phones.

Amanda:

And then, so I guess the interactive media component is actually those apps that carry those podcasts. So how do they work? How do people get on specific apps or using stitch or using Apple podcasts? You know, so even though, you know, there’s, um, it’s ever changing the, the podcasting field, the radio field has elements of interactive media. And so how I like to define it is emerging medias. And what that means is so as technology is growing exponentially, and so it continues to grow at a faster and faster rate. We need to teach people and ourselves be flexible in learning new technologies. So a lot of what I focus on in my class is showing students emerging technologies that are, you know, maybe 10, 20 years old or a year old. And then I teach them how to learn them. And then how say if they were shown a technology similar to this, how to then do the research and catch up and be able to be very flexible and learning all these different technologies.

Amanda:

And luckily they have similar interfaces still. Um, they have similar. So interfaces being, when you open up a tool, a software tool, you’re certain that there’s going to be some kind of toolbar. There’s going to be some kind of inspector, um, or like properties panel. And so if you can teach people to become familiar with those tools, um, in the softwares, then that can be applied to like new tools while they’re in their careers working, um, on the hardware side. It’s important. I think to think about, you know, all these softwares and hardwares we’re using, like our computers and apps and phones. If we can like break that down a little bit and show people, this is how it’s being made. Um, this is how you can contribute to it. Here’s a little mini Arduino microcontroller where you can program your very own like interactions sensor, where you’re doing something, um, to a, let’s say a light sensor. And so if it’s dark, then something clicks on and if it’s light, something clicks off. So you’re actually starting to build these, like this is clear interactions and, and learn that, you know, technology, um, is within our grasp. And it’s something that’s a very human thing that we’re constantly developing. Um, and I just think that’s so important to know that we have influence over what we’re using. So these software tools are made by people and, uh, as communicators and, um, makers and storytellers, uh, we have the ability to, um, form those technologies.

Speaker 3:

I think that you hit on some really important, or at least intriguing points, uh, in that we cannot fear for lack of a better term. Um, these emerging technologies, it is a matter of embracing them. Um, and I think that, that goes back to this idea of survival, of the fittest, um, in that mediums develop as a result of innovation, we have television because somebody, uh, you know, eventually figured out how to go ahead and transmit, uh, transmit images. Um, and it’s a matter of those mediums, keeping up with these emerging technologies. And we can see now how network TV broadcast television had seemed to resist some of these changes for such a long time. And now, um, they’re only, you know, now they’re playing catch up when they could have been ahead of the game. Uh, and I’m thinking in regards to like, what do we call it now? The streaming Wars, you know, do you have Netflix Hulu, Amazon prime, Oh God, uh, the failure that was Quimby, uh, you know, things, things along those lines. Um, so it really seems like IDM might potentially be the most, um, poignant, the most important kind of underpinning of the communication fields at this, at this juncture.

Amanda:

Yeah. And I think, you know, in a sense, all that is offered in the communication, um, program, even here at Monmouth is under the umbrella of interactive digital media. It’s just sort of like, how do you use interactive digital media in each of the different disciplines, whether you’re in journalism or in sports marketing or in, um, you know, uh, comp theory, or if you’re looking at media studies production, you’re focusing on radio or television. I like in my introduction to digital media classes to really have them incorporate their interests into their projects. So when they’re using a tool like Photoshop or illustrator or after effects, I asked them, you know, not only just to create an image, um, using this tool, I asked them to say something with it, like create a message and make it relevant to them. And so, you know, are you, do you want to promote something?

Amanda:

Is there something you want to say, what are your goals? And, um, I think it creates a lot of interesting work because they’re able to bring in their expertise. Um, and also it feels more relevant. Um, I think to their, to their careers and to their, um, to their scholarly careers, you know, their careers at Monmouth and also outside. And then they can see, okay, maybe I’m going to be a journalist, but I, I knowing how to format this text in a way that supports my message or learning how to make a quick video with graphic animations that, um, tells my story quickly is effective because that’s how people are consuming that information and these small bits and bytes, um, of media,

Speaker 3:

The whole idea that there, that there is a separation that there is a divide I’m studying journalism. I’m only going to be focused on writing, uh, formulating leads and following the inverted pyramid, you know, structure the entire time, that’s it? That doesn’t happen anymore. Um, and I, I said, try to say the same thing to, you know, some of the audio students where I’m like, listen, you could be phenomenal on the air. You could be great, but unless you are comfortable with interacting via social media, being camera, um, taking that footage then, and then being able to manipulate it and elicit, you know, an underlying message, um, and then have folks respond to it in the way that you desire. You’re not going to necessarily succeed in this industry. Um, so I guess maybe, maybe building off that, one of the things that I know I’ve encountered, um, I think a couple of other folks maybe have is that when we offer that invitation for students to bring in some of their own interests, their own thoughts, their own ideas, um, it seems like it’s sometimes a little bit of a struggle, and I don’t think that that’s for, or that’s to say that these individuals, you know, these students don’t have, or students don’t have, uh, other interests or, you know, their own sort of, you know, develop personalities, but there’s a hesitation.

Speaker 3:

How have you found effective ways of bringing out, maybe again, some of those, uh, you know, individual characteristics, um, from a student to explore and kind of again, play around with a, uh, field of study based on what they’re interested in previously. Yeah,

Amanda:

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I absolutely agree with also in your characterization of like being very specific and one part of a job is great, but being able, if you’re a great announcer, but, and you also know how to do other things, that is really what’s key. It’s also like, even if you’re not going to be editing audio all day, but you know how to communicate with that person who is because you understand their work. And that I think is a really important part of the field of communication going forward. And so being able to be interdisciplinary in that way is vital. Um, you know, speaking to the hesitation, I think it’s, um, really, you know, through high school, um, and you know, high and K through 12, even they have really specific goals. They want to meet as far as learning and they are under immense pressure to, um, make sure that all the students are getting a really great quality education.

Amanda:

I think that limits, um, the kind of learning that they can do a lot of the times. So their learning environments were very structured. So when they come to the university, it’s an opportunity to break out of those structures and be very creative. I can recall being in my first graphic design class and being asked to make something that I thought of and having to like, I mean, I would just spend like weeks trying to come up with an idea and I’d be like, Oh, that’s not good. Oh, that one’s great. Oh, no, I don’t like it anymore. You know, just this, it was really difficult to start to think about what I wanted to make, what I wanted to say. And, you know, college is the time where you’re finding your voice and your being able to explore yourself outside of your family relationship.

Amanda:

Um, I think that’s getting easier now with young people on, um, connected networks and technology, but even so how do you then channel that voice into something, um, visual and productive. And so, you know, it has been, I have had hesitation from students, um, you know, who want a very structured assignment, but I feel like they’re always, um, or usually very pleased when they come up with their own idea and visualize at the end. And sometimes it’s about starting with the really small steps I say, okay, well, you know, you don’t have to come up with, um, this fantastic new invention of an idea, but what if you focus on something that you’re interested in, um, even if it’s just, you know, if it’s sports or fashion or productivity, so sort of starting at that outside sort of bubble. Um, and then they could either, sometimes they get more specific and say, I’m going to focus on, um, this specific form of productivity. And I want to make a graphic talking about that and balancing it with the intersection of like mental health. And so it can be really interesting and sometimes they stay at, at, you know, um, sports or, you know, colors and just creating colors. And I think both of those are really valuable and it’s just a way in to starting to think creatively and think about, you know, how to have that voice. And that can be really difficult when you’ve come from a very structured education. So I think starting, um, starting with an open mind,

Nick:

It’s funny because at the same time, I, uh, again, more and more students seem to be coming in with some of these, or what’s some experience working with the hardware, working with the software. Um, so they’re there, the technical ability is there, but then that process of content creation, there’s always just a little hesitation, but I’ve got to say, and I’m sure again, you’ve seen it once that that light bulb, you know, clicks on like, Oh, I can do this. This is, this is an idea worth exploring. Yeah, absolutely go for it. Um, I always think back and, and, and one of my final, uh, assignments, individual had a list of potential ideas for, um, a vignette and an audio vignette, and we’re going through the list and I came to the last point and I go, what is that like? Is that the day in the life of an avocado? And I’m like, yeah, but it’s just such a dumb idea. It’s such a stupid idea. I was like, Oh my God, that’s great. No way run with it. See what you can come up with. And it was that like validation and like, Oh, this is worth again, trying out like this. Isn’t just something like silly. Um, and you’ll give me credit for it, I think. Yeah.

Amanda:

Yeah. And I think it’s important to show, you know, as, um, educators and, um, communication professionals, um, digital media professionals, whatever our expertise are. We also have those doubts on all our honor ideas. You know, we go through series of ideas. And so, um, there also isn’t this point where we become mastered technical experts where we never questioned ourselves. And I think that myth is really important to like debunk as well, especially around technology, because the idea is like that I’m just perhaps a digital media expert who just knows these things. Cause I have some inherent ability to, or it’s technology technology. I’m sure I have grown up in an era where technology was accessible. I have been around technology for a long time and I studied it. So I do have expertise, whoever I work constantly on learning new emerging tech and then creating content.

Amanda:

It’s a, it’s a constant, um, um, journey where you’re like, I’ve got a great idea. You do that for a few years or a month or a day. And you’re like, nevermind or something, you know, and you said it’s important to try a bunch of things. Cause you kind of never know which idea you try is going to take you somewhere and take you to that next step. So I think it’s important to instill that kind of, um, it’s okay to have doubts about the work. Um, and it’s okay to not feel like, you know, something. And that is really the important thing is just trying out the ideas and mixing it with the mediums that you’re using, especially when you’re in communication. And you’re trying to tell a story and you’re trying to connect with other people and broadcast messages and, or even feelings if you’re talking about music or, um, visuals arts and

Speaker 3:

The most dedicated artists, I think. And I, I don’t want to say best because I think there’s a difference between being the best at something and being dedicated to something. Um, but I think the most dedicated artists are the ones that consistently come up with an idea or, or start working on a project or even finish a project and look at it and think, what was I thinking doing this? You know, and, and letting that little bit of doubt, you know, really creep in and start to overtake a little bit until time, you know, eventually does go by. Um, and in using, using that term artist, the last time we had sat down, uh, was actually at a, at an exhibition, um, of yours and the DiMatteo gallery. Yes. Um, I know that there was a climate change focus, uh, hurricane Sandy, I believe, uh, focus and, and whatnot. Um,

Amanda:

Yes, the exhibition that you’re mentioning is still just B2B after Sandy. Um, it was collaboration with professor Karen Wright and myself. And so we collaborated on one piece specifically called the climate shelter, which we had like, um, equal parts in the, creating the concept four and then materializing. And, um, what that was, was just as like DECA gone structure, that was about 10 feet high that you were able to walk into. And on top of that, I designed this geodesic dome, um, made out of triangles and wood that then we, um, SU so-so together a, um, canvas for that I then projected into. And I used, um, projection. It was like a mirror system in order to create, um, a rounded projection screen. And so I projected, um, a creative code, um, visualization, so sound visualization using code, um, and audio. And I projected that into the space.

Amanda:

And so the way that I did that was, um, again with the projector, but then when you walked in the space, it was this dark kind of warm space, um, back when we could all be physical in person. Um, and then there’s audio playing and the visuals were reacting to the audio. So they’re actually being live. They were being, um, rendered live. So the visuals were being rendered live. And as the audio became more, um, elevated in sound or quality like the, I was, it was, um, analyzing the frequency of the sound and then the visuals would react to the sound based on whatever the frequency was. And I had, pre-programmed like, if it hits this frequency, create this effect, which was like us with different color, different shape. And so I want us to kind of visualize, and a lot of the sounds were from, um, hurricane Sandy itself and then this poem. So I was trying to try to visualize the feeling and, um, without it being traumatic, but just sort of as a place of processing. Um, and I think a lot of technology is traditionally been and media arts has been used that way to sort of create, um, feeling and space and empathy, especially in VR and stuff like that. Um, and I think this was no exception that this was very much an artistic poetic version of, um, take on the experience of Parkinson’s

Nick:

We’re going to make sure that we get some images and some video to go up with, uh, with this, because the audio format on its own, clearly not the best for, uh, for actually going ahead and, uh, uh, you know, taking in what it is that you had, uh, worked on then, what is it that, uh, what are you actively working on now? You know, when you’re, when you take off that professor hat and co-founders hats and so many hats.

Amanda:

Yeah. Um, so now I’m working on a paper actually, um, for a editorial journal it’s called, um, women online. I’m not sure exactly what the direction right now, but it was, I’m born out of a conference paper that I submitted about, um, Femara, femme visibility, online and, um, representation. So also do a little bit of writing, but my focus is more on media arts. So, and with that, I’m going to be creating some kind of visualization. It might be like a hyperlinked text, but I’m working on that now with my collaborators in the IBM research lab, um, under an umbrella project called the future of equity. So, um, that’s a very broad, um, pedal right now where, you know, um, my, um, faculty colleague who was also the co-principal investigator at DM research lab, professor Dickey, Cox is going, is also working on that as well. There are students, students who, um, want to engage with that on different projects, investigating forms of equity, like branches of equity, equity, and, um, geography, equity, and technology, you know, equity in place. And, um, so we’re going to be doing a presentation on that, um, as well,

Speaker 4:

That’s going to be, it’s going

Amanda:

To be a, so we just talked about it today. So the, um, it’s proposal right now, but we’re hoping that on December nine, that’s a Wednesday evening, it’s going to be the idea of winter salon.

Speaker 4:

Yes.

Amanda:

Showing some work there. Um, other than that, you know, I wanted to talk about maybe briefly this, um, digital activist project I worked on with art now, um, as I’m the new chair of art now, and along with my, um, faculty colleagues there, we put together, um, what’s called a Wikipedia editor thumb under the umbrella of art and feminism. And we edited Wikipedia articles and we edited, uh, we ended over 1000 words. I think it even came to almost 2000 words, um, 26 articles, um, through that editor thumb day. And so what that consisted of was like a training session that I, I did it in the morning and we had a faculty librarian. Um, Lisa, I had a new chief also present, um, on, you know, gate gaming, factual data and what it means to like, uh, some media literacy items as well. And I think the idea was to show students that, you know, Wikipedia is a place where information is often, um, taken from however it is severely biased, um, and that they also have control over it themselves.

Amanda:

You know, they’re using these and, and students are shown statistically to use Wikipedia quite a bit for information. And, um, you know, that they, they can be to breeders as well, that this is a shared platform. And I think it’s important to, you know, educate and remember that, um, Wikipedia, isn’t an encyclopedia, it’s a shared it’s, it’s a shared encyclopedia. It’s something that we can all edit. Um, and so it’s important to contribute and try to close that gap between like who’s represented and who’s not, and, or to, um, create more representation around people, um, especially women and marginalized groups, um, people of color aren’t shown as widely, um, in history and not just when we competed in history books as well. So that was our, that was our goal. And it was really successful and it was, um, blue fund, but on, it was all virtual in September. Um, and we had a lot of support from the IBM research lab, Monmouth university, Guggenheim library, and program for gender and intersectionality study.

Nick:

Wow. Fascinating. I really don’t think that I even knew all the kind of minutia, um, that really went into that one event. Was there anything particularly egregious that you guys had come across? Like I’m always curious because you’re right. You know, it is, uh, a platform that anybody can kind of go on and, and, you know, make edits to, um,

Amanda:

I think I have a good example for you. Like, and it’s one that I showed, um, I believe it was, you know, this is September, um, they, we competed, it has a form of categorizing different pages and flagging them as like under-reported, or, you know, this isn’t enough facts. You’re a danger of being deleted. Um, this wasn’t as severe as being endangered being deleted, but I remember, um, Maya Angelou was playing a ton of flap and you’re like, it’s sort of shocking. Right? Yeah. And then, you know, maybe a little bit less known, but quite significant, um, philosopher and scholar and feminist studies, bell hooks. She had a lot of issues on her page because she spells her name with lowercase, um, letters. And so there was one person somewhere in the world who was sort of harassing her, essentially constantly making those capitalized. And so people were working really hard to uncouple it. So there was this whole political, like, um, war sort of like a computation going on, on Wikipedia about that’s not proper grammar. Oh. But that is, and of course that brings us into larger compensations about, you know, choice on, um, gender and how you’re using your pronouns and what proper grammar is in relation to human experience. So we can be to is a very fascinating place for a lot of this, um, you know, social and political and, um, theoretical information

Nick:

Just goes to show you that again, we can learn anything on a, on a, or we should be learning something new every day. I had no idea that that’s, that that would a be an argument, you know, that folks, uh, would get into and then, uh, a war or a battle that folks be willing to continue to fight and die on the line for when it’s like, that’s, that’s how the, the individual spelled their name. Right.

Amanda:

Yeah. And you know, some of that battle is it is a non it’s, it’s a totally anonymous, but you don’t have to share your information on Wikipedia to create an account. And it is online. And I think that is part of the larger culture on like being able to essentially create fake profiles and harass people online. You know, I mean, I am not, um, I think technology broadly does so many amazing things, so I don’t want to take away from that, but those are some of the realities, um, you know, it allows us to connect and it also allows us to, um, be anonymous in some areas, as we know in the misinformation age,

Speaker 3:

I don’t know what you’re talking about. Um, wow. Uh, I always, I always think back to, you know, it seems like an easy answer. Um, but a lot of these things probably could be rectified with education, um, teaching, I can’t unteach you something that you’ve seen or been, been exposed to. However, I can teach you a new way of approaching it, uh, at the very least. And, and hopefully that’s what our goal is overall, but even more so, you know, again with IDM and with, uh, digital media, um, I know that you have been learning probation

Amanda:

Has been

Speaker 3:

Hard, hard, hard, left turn on that one. Um, how has that been going? And, uh, I’m a little and, and, and why, why Croatian?

Amanda:

Um, you know, since this new academic year started, I’ve actually taken a couple of months off and I’m set to start again December with my sister and my mom. So, um, we do it online altogether. We were on zoom before zoom was a thing just saying our Federation teachers since last January,

Speaker 3:

I say, I’m so hip and Croatian.

Amanda:

Um, you can’t ask me that. That’s how, that’s where my level of that. I can say a few things, but, um, I’m going to spare you all that for the moment. But, um, the reason I’m doing that is partly because my, um, my dad was born in Yugoslavia, but the area of Krisha and, um, my grandmother also who lives in Canada now where I was born and grew up a lot of my life in, um, speaks of oppression and sort of all my uncles and aunts that side. And, um, I think it’s more of like a connecting back to that culture. Um, my mother is a French speaker, so she’s her first language is French. My dad’s first language is creation. So we speak French and we always have in the hospital, part of his being in Canada growing up, and we were in a French schools, um, French public schools. And then, so just trying to connect with the other group. And I think like I’d really love to be able to speak to my grandmother. And, um, I’ve traveled there a few times and, you know, being able to go back and really be absorbed in the culture. So that’s the goal,

Nick:

More information on Croatia, former Yugoslavia, make sure to check out the professor profiles with Dr. Marina Vanya, Vic, she will go ahead and be able to really connect all the dots here.

Amanda:

Oh yeah.

Nick:

Before we wrap up,

Amanda:

What

Nick:

Are we watching? What are we reading? What are we listening to at? You know, what’s, what is our go to if you want to disconnect a little bit.

Amanda:

Yeah. So, um, I’m listening to a lot of NPR. That’s not necessarily disconnection, but of course this is election week, no longer election day, maybe election month, right?

Nick:

For reference, we are recording on November the sixth. That is 4:22 PM. And, uh, we, uh, we are still in limbo.

Amanda:

There could be things breaking right now. I don’t know, check as soon as we get off of it all. But, um, so I’ve been listening to the MPR a little bit of the daily, New York times podcast. I stay away from live news coverage and I mostly consume radio and, um, like visual data. I, for one, that’s how I stay sane by not listening to like these customers on, on, um, on that. And then I started watching the haunting of blind man, why live life manner? You know what I’m talking about, right? Yes. The haunting of blind manners. That’s what I’ve been doing, keeping the Halloween dream live.

Nick:

Any thoughts on it at all? I, I I’m, we’ve finished that.

Amanda:

Okay. Um, I am, I think I’m episode four and I’m in that stage where you’re still a little bit like not all of the strings have been tied together, so it’s slightly spooky, slightly confusing. Um, but I have, I have high hopes because I am invested. Um, I try to watch it just like once a week. So I think that it’s like you are safe,

Nick:

Dedicated, and regimented individual.

Amanda:

Well, that’s, that’s very kind of you, but I also watch house hunters as a way to just melt my, or the great British baking show. It’s a way to melt my mind otherwise though,

Nick:

There’s nothing better than watching Lily and Barry tell someone that they’re a, that their sponge cake is not nearly as, as, uh, a succulent.

Amanda:

Yeah, not enough. Sponge more sponge

Nick:

Assistant professor of digital media. Co-principal investigator at the IDM research lab. Co-founder of so many different organizations, void lab decentralizing, the web chair of art. Now neighbor Amanda story.

Amanda:

And I have thank you so much

Nick:

For joining us today. Really appreciate it. Thank you so much. That’ll do for, uh, for this episode, this installment of professor profiles, make sure to go ahead and check out all the rest, uh, that we’ve, we’ve done so far. Um, myself, Nick Pacino, and my colleague, Matt Harmon from here in the department of communication at Monmouth university, for more information on who we are and what we do. That’s monmouth.edu backslash department, dash of dash communication.