Ronald A. Yaros | Philip Merrill College of Journalism

Ronald A. Yaros
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison

Office: 4113 Journalism
Phone:
E-mail: ryaros@jmail.umd.edu

Innovation in multimedia journalism encompasses the teaching and research by Ronald Yaros. The Lab For Communicating Complexity With Multimedia investigates how audiences seek and share news, then tests new ways to enhance engagement and understanding. For 2010, he teaches the new "I" series course Information 3.0 plus a graduate seminar in new media research. His professional experience spans twenty-five years as an emmy award-winning broadcaster and President of a national software company. Publications include: Communication Research, Harvard's Nieman Reports, American Journalism Review, a chapter in Journalism and Citizenship: New Agendas, plus his Twitter and blog sites.

Expertise: SKILLS: Digital storytelling on the web and reporting for television and radio. Science and health journalism. RESEARCH: Cognitive processes related to comprehenders’ selective perception and comprehension of multimedia and complex news topics such as: global warming, stem cells, nanotechnology. Cognitive processes are influenced by: (1) the different ways that communicators produce multimedia news content; (2) the heuristics comprehenders utilize to process multimedia; and (3) mental models/schemas that facilitate audience interest in and comprehension of hypertext, video, audio, graphics and animation.

Campus Committees: Programs, Courses, Curricula Committee (Chair, 2009-10), Faculty Advisory Committee (2009-10), Graduate Committee (2009-10), iTunesU Academic Site Development Team

Affiliations: Chair (2009), AEJMC's Science Communication Interest Group, Assn of Internet Researchers, Online News Assn, International Communication Assn and the National Communication Assn

Curriculum Vitae