Speakers

New York State Communication Association
81st Annual Conference October 13-15, 2023
COMMUNICATION IN THE DIGITAL WORLD

2023 Keynote Speakers

Dr. Carolyn D. Hedges

Assistant Professor, Communications Department, Syracuse University
Director of Online Master’s Programs at Newhouse

Unraveling the Critical Issues of Communication in the Digital Age

In the ever-evolving landscape of rapid technological advancements and unparalleled connectivity, communications scholars play a pivotal role in comprehending and tackling the pressing challenges facing society. This compelling keynote presentation delves into the critical issues that demand our collective attention. From the digital divide and addictive design to misinformation, privacy concerns, the ascent of AI, and the imperative of media literacy – these intertwined topics form the crux of our experience in today’s digital world. By using examples from past students and current literature and analyzing social trends, this keynote enables us to understand these challenges better. By recognizing the link between them, we can create a more equitable and knowledgeable future that promotes social justice.

Carolyn Hedges, Ph.D., is an Assistant Teaching Professor in the Communications Department and the Director of Online Master’s Programs at Newhouse. With an impressive professional background as a former film publicist at Fox Searchlight and United Artists/MGM, and a consumer analytics expert at Nielsen, Dr. Hedges possesses a wealth of knowledge spanning various media industries and their relation to audience behavior and consumption.

Drawing from her diverse experiences, Dr. Hedges’ teaching and research focus on the economic systems and cultural contexts that shape today’s media landscape. Her scholarly work delves into critical topics such as online education, diversity and inclusion in mass communication, and popular culture studies.

Recognized for her dedication to teaching excellence, Dr. Hedges was honored with the 2021-22 Teaching Recognition Award for Early Performance. Moreover, her exceptional contributions to the field earned her the distinction of being named a 2021 Kopenhaver Center Fellow.

Dr. Hedges earned her undergraduate degree from Duke University and went on to achieve both her master’s and doctoral degrees from the prestigious Newhouse School, solidifying her as a respected authority in the realm of communications and media studies.

Dr. Brandy Monk-Payton

Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies
Department of African & African American Studies at Fordham University

Other Forms of Life: Black Digital Cultures, Animacy, and Communicative Possibility

What empathetic ways of being and being with others in the world can digital platforms provide? This talk explores how Black digital cultures cultivate radical modes of communication that can potentially present alternative approaches to combating racial injustice through an emphasis on quotidian life and expression. Dr. Monk-Payton examines the online activities of Black People Pets, a dispersed virtual community that is connected by a shared interest in, and love for, companion species. Specifically, she analyzes the myriad ways in which dogs figure into Black domestic experience in digital media. Building on Donna Haraway’s assertion that the lives of humans and canines are “bonded in significant otherness,” Dr. Monk-Payton looks to racialized scenes of interspecies engagement on social networking sites. Such scenes contest dominant hierarchies of animacy in their linguistic and gestural play between Black folks and pets, offering up techniques for a different ethics of relation.

Brandy Monk-Payton, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Media Studies and affiliated faculty in the Dept. of African & African American Studies at Fordham University. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on the theory and history of Black media representation and cultural production across television, film, and digital media.

Her work is forthcoming in Television & New Media and The Journal of e-Media and has been published in other journals such as Persona Studies, Film Quarterly, Feminist Media Histories, Women’s Studies in Communication, and Communication, Culture and Critique. She also has chapters in edited collections such as Black Cinema & Visual Culture: Art and Politics in the 21st Century and Unwatchable.

She has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered to discuss the racial politics of The Bachelor and interviewed on PBS NewsHour about media depictions of the Tulsa Race Massacre. In 2022, she served as an expert panelist on a virtual briefing for the Congressional Multicultural Media Caucus focused on Black creatives and the fight for attribution on the internet. She is currently working on two book projects: one on television and Black Lives Matter and another on contemporary Black celebrity culture.