For 40 years, BEA’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement in Scholarship recipient, James Webster, has been asking the question “how do audiences take shape?” His first answer was published in 1983. Since then, it seems digital media have changed everything. But despite claims that anywhere anytime media have put people in charge, it’s not so simple. Webster’s new answer forms the basis of a recent book The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences Take Shape in a Digital Age, which he’ll discuss during the podium session.
James Webster is a Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. He got his PhD from Indiana University in 1980. He’s been at Northwestern since 1986, including several years as the Senior Associate Dean of the School of Communication. During that time, he helped create the School’s doctoral program in Media, Technology and Society. His students have won dissertation awards from BEA and NCA.
Webster’s own research focuses on media audiences. His two most recent books are; The Marketplace of Attention: How Audiences Take Shape in a Digital Age (2014 MIT Press) and the fourth edition of Ratings Analysis: Audience Measurement and Analytics with Patricia Phalen and Lawrence Lichty (2014 Routledge). Webster is a long-time member of BEA and has been on the editorial board of the Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media for 30 years. He is also on the editorial boards of the Journal of Communication and the International Journal of Communication. In 2012 he won the University of Amsterdam’s Denis McQuail award for writing the article that best advanced communication theory. In addition to his research and teaching, Webster works from time to time as a consultant for audience measurement and media companies.
Introduction by: Robert K. Avery, University of Utah