At the recent Broadcast Educators Association Festival in Las Vegas, colleagues Garry Hare, Bonnie Buckner, Sean Thoennes, and Media Psychology Research Center Executive Director Erik Gregory gave a brilliant panel presentation on different aspects and considerations of designing media for a small screen. (You can read Bonnie’s paper on the cognitive psychology of small screen presentations in the Spring issues of The Media Psychology Review, which will be online by the end of May.) This chart, from an fascinating special edition of the Economist, underscores the rapidity of change in the media environment and the timeliness of their presentation.
The shift toward cell phones, in this example, also emphasizes the importance of using psychology to successfully design and implement media technologies that effectively deliver information and education, not just entertainment. The mobility and cost-effectiveness of smaller scale technologies offer tremendous promise for improving educational opportunities to underserved populations. And if it also lets you work from the local Starbucks, so much the better!
Dr. Pamela Rutledge is available to reporters for comments on the psychological and social impact of media and technology on individuals, society, organizations and brands.