Symposium Ends with Suggestions for Processing Social Network Information

Dr. Bree McEwan, Director of Communication and Technology at DePaul University, will present a program titled "Filtered through Networks: How social technologies facilitate relationships that change how we perceive information, data, and reality" on Wednesday, Mar. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Ashland University's Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium.

From fake news and filter bubbles, to your friend’s misspelled meme, and your cousin’s change.org petition -- comprehending information diffused online through social networks is an important component for understanding debates on a wide range of issues. While it is important to think critically about our information consumption and media diets, other factors, particularly who information comes from and how we form those sources are important factors in the way we see the world and ourselves.

Dr. McEwan, the author of Navigating New Media Networks, will discuss the dynamics between media consumers, information ecology, social network platforms, and cognitive processes. McEwan will offer explanations and suggestions to help competently process the large swaths of information we encounter every day from our social networks.

The program is an event in the Ashland University College of Arts and Sciences’ biennial Symposium Against Indifference. The theme for this year’s series is “Building Bridges Through Dialogue.” Dr. McEwan's visit is co-sponsored by the Department of Journalism and Digital Media and is free and open to the public.

Dr. McEwan (PhD, Arizona State University) focuses her research on the intersection of interpersonal communication and communication technologies. Her work primarily focuses on the management and maintenance of social relationships through communication technologies such as social media and text messaging as well as considering the effects social communication has on societal structure (and vice versa). Dr. McEwan is the author of "Navigating New Media Networks: Understanding and Managing Communication Challenges." In addition she has published articles examining the social effects of communication technology in Communication Monographs, Computers in Human Behavior, Cyberpsychology, Social Networking, and Behavior, and New Media and Society. Her recent projects focus on measurement issues in communication technology research and developing a theory of the diffusion of issues information via social media.

Film Director Screens New Documentary

Screenwriter and film director Robby Henson (who has directed films starring Academy Award winners Billy Bob Thornton and Patricia Arquette) will present a public screening of his new documentary "I Come From" on Monday, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Ashland University's Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium. Following the film screening, Henson will speak about the film and lead a Q&A.

"I Come From" illustrates the mission of the Voices Inside program which is to develop empathy, compassion and trust, and to nurture a desire to help others. Founded by Henson, this inspirational inmate writing and theatre program is housed at Northpoint Training Center, a medium security prison near Danville, KY. It uses theatre arts and creative thinking to increase communication skills, build self-esteem, humanize and enrich the lives of those closed off
behind bars. Incarcerated writers in the program have won national awards and their works have been performed at Actors Theater of Louisville and NYC theaters.

The public film screening is an event in the Ashland University College of Arts and Sciences’ biennial Symposium Against Indifference. The theme for this year’s series is “Building Bridges Through Dialogue.” Henson's visit is co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre and is free and open to the public.

Robby Henson received his M.F.A. from New York University's graduate film school. His films have been seen on PBS, the BBC, at Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and at film festivals in Canada, Ireland, France, Yugoslavia, Australia and Poland. He has directed over 30 theater productions and has made 5 award winning documentaries shown on PBS including "Spalding Gray: A Life in Progress" and "Trouble Behind," a film about a Southern race riot that was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

His dramatic first feature,"Pharaoh's Army," with Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, Academy Nominee Patricia Clarkson and music legend Kris Kristofferson was released theatrically by Lions Gate Films and was shown on PBS. In 2002 he wrote and directed "The Badge," a southern crime drama starring Billy Bob Thornton, Patricia Arquette, Thomas Hayden Church and Sela Ward for Starz Pictures and Lions Gate Films that was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award (Gay and Lesbian Alliance) and won Best Drama at the Breckinridge Film Festival. He has also directed the thrillers "The Visitation," "There" and "House" for Fox and Lions Gate. He currently teaches media at the University of Kentucky.

Symposium Against Indifference Kicks Off Sept. 12

Organized by the Ashland University College of Arts & Sciences, the biennial Symposium Against Indifference returns in 2017-2018 with the theme of “Building Bridges Through Dialogue.” In particular, this year's events seek to elevate the level of discourse to civil discussion of diverse perspectives.

With five major programs scheduled throughout this academic year (September through March), the series will kick off with presentations by Dr. Susan Glisson and Charles Tucker, the partners and co-founders of Sustainable Equity, LLC, who will share stories of dialogue, understanding and trust within divided America.

“We've been conditioned to listen in order to counter someone’s statement instead of listening to understand. That’s not helpful,” Glisson says.

Glisson and Tucker will present a public lecture on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 7:30 p.m. and an interactive workshop on Wednesday, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m. with both events being held in the Trustees Room of the Myers Convocation Center. With co-sponsorship by the Department of Religion, these programs are free and open to the public.

The Tuesday evening lecture will use Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s quote, “My enemy is someone whose story I haven’t heard” as a touchstone. From an historic conviction in a cold civil rights case, passage and implementation of a statewide law requiring civil rights and human rights history curriculum in all Mississippi schools, to work with the City of New Orleans on Confederate monuments, police departments and public institutions, Glisson and Tucker have a diverse and substantial list of success stories of leading individuals to examine their own attitudes and biases combined with the building of trust and respectful relationships.

At the workshop on Wednesday evening, participants will discover the Welcome Table process developed by Dr. Glisson and learn more about this method of intentional dialogue that can be used in community building and in people’s daily lives. This interactive workshop will introduce the tools and techniques used by the city of New Orleans and the state of South Carolina (among others) to help communities with deep racial and historical divisions.

In 2016, Dr. Glisson and Mr. Tucker co-founded Sustainable Equity to work with communities, public institutions and businesses to foster effective historical dialogue in order to build trusting and respectful relationships.

Bud Ferillo from the University of South Carolina's South Carolina Collaborative on Race and Reconciliation recognizes their work saying, “Susan Glisson and Charles Tucker are raising small armies across the country to unite communities and guide the hard but needed conversations about racial reconciliation."

Additionally, Mayor Landrieu for the City of New Orleans, praised their Welcome Table process which “brings people of different ethnicities and backgrounds together to build relationships, tackle the issue of race and work together on projects that will make our city better and stronger.”

For more than 20 years, Glisson has shown how she is deeply committed and experienced in the work of transformation, truth-telling and community trust-building.

Offering years of practice-based evidence in community building, advocacy and public policy, Glisson works with organizations seeking to make the greatest collective impact in creating inclusive and humane work and social environments and to develop the capacity to form sustainable community trust. This work includes workshops, retreats, research as a basis for building networks and communities of practice to increase individual learning and collective action.

The native of Evans, Ga., earned bachelor’s degrees in religion and in history from Mercer University, a master’s degree in Southern Studies from the University of Mississippi, and a Ph.D. in American Studies from the College of William and Mary.

Tucker works to build unity and consensus in communities, nonprofit and corporate entities. He uses his skills and experience as a facilitator and program designer. He has extensive experience in meeting facilitation, consensus building, community planning and needs analysis, social systems analysis, and creative writing to liberate community stories and gifts, bridge divisions and build community. He also offers experience in media management such as news reporting, feature and advertising copy writing, including sports reporting and writing, technical and creative writing.

He is a native of Cary, Miss., earning his Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications with a focus in print journalism from Jackson State University and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Pine Manor College.

For more information about the Symposium Against Indifference, contact this year's coordinator, Dr. Dolly Crawford, at dcrawfo9@ashland.edu or 419.207.4957.