Ronald A. Yaros

Assistant Professor

As a former broadcast journalist and entrepreneur of a software corporation, Ronald Yaros is a nationally recognized researcher and teacher of digital environments. His work on Explain My News.org replaces "audiences" with interactive users who seek, select, learn and share information on the web, social media and mobile devices. More than fifty presentations and publications include book chapters plus articles in top tier journals, the American Journalism Review and Harvard's Nieman Reports. Dr. Yaros received Maryland's Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012.

Follow on Twitter: @ryaros

Between 2009 and 2011, Professor Yaros chaired the College's curriculum committee, which produced the College's new multi-platform undergraduate curriculum, a revised professional master's curriculum, plus a new multi-media certificate program for returning professionals.

YAROSsp2013.pdf

Recent Publications

Yaros, Ronald A., Powers, Elia, Oh, Soo-Kwang (in press). "Reporting a New Cancer Risk:  Analyzing Online Coverage of the World Health Organization’s Announcement About Possible  Dangers from Cell Phones." Accepted for publication in the Newspaper Research Journal, January 2013.

Powers, Elia  & Yaros, Ronald A. (2013). "Cultivating Support for Nonprofit News Organizations: Committment, Trust and Donating Audiences,"  Journal of Communication Management, 17 (2), 157-170.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2012). “Effects of Mobile Devices and Text Messages: A Multi-Study Design to Explore a Model for Mobile Learning in Introductory Journalism,” International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 2(3), 50-72

Yaros, Ronald A. (2012). "Social Media And Education: Do Personalization And Interactivity Facilitate Learning?"  In H.S. Noor Al-Deen, J.A. Hendricks (Eds.)  Social Media: Usage And Impact, Lexington Books

Powers, Elia & Yaros, Ronald A (2012). “Supporting Online Nonprofit News Organizations:  Do Financial Contributions Influence Stakeholder Expectations and Engagement?” Journal of Media Business Studies 9(3), pp. 41-62.

Yaros, Ronald A. & Cook, Anne  (2011). "Attention Versus Learning of Online Content: Preliminary Findings From An Eye-Tracking Study," International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology & Learning 

Yaros, Ronald A. (2011). "Effects Of Text And Hypertext Structures On User interest And Understanding Of Science And Technology,"  Science Communication, 33 (3), pp. 275-308.

Crone, W., Dunwoody, S., Rediske, R., Ackerman, S., Zenner-Peterson, G. & Yaros, Ronald A., (2011) "Informal Science Education: A Practicum for Graduate Students," Innovative Higher Education, 36 (5). 

Yaros, Ronald A. (2009).  "Digital Natives: Following Their Lead on a Path to a New Journalism," Nieman Reports, Winter 2009 Edition: Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. 

Yaros, Ronald A. (2009). "Mastering Multimedia." American Journalism Review, August/September 2009.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2009). "Producing Citizen Journalism or Producing Journalism for Citizens:  A New Multimedia Model To Enhance Understanding of Complex News." In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.)  In Journalism and Citizenship: New Agenda, (pp. 71-90). New York, NY: Routledge.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2008). "Communicating Complex News Online, How Users Process Information About Science, Health, and Technology."  Saarbrucken, Germany: VDM Publishing.

Yaros, Ronald A. (2006). "Is it the Medium or the Message? Structuring  Complex News To Enhance Engagement and Situational Understanding By Non-Experts". Communication Research, 33 (4), pp. 285-309.

Nelson, Michelle R., Ronald A. Yaros, and Heejo Keum, (2006).  "Examining The Influence of Telepresence on Spectator and Player Processing of Real and Fictitious Brands in a Computer Game." Journal of Advertising, 35 (4) Winter 2006, pp. 87-99.

Wood, Michelle, Michelle R. Nelson, Jaeho Cho, and Ronald A. Yaros (2004). "Tonight's Top Story: Commercial Content in Television News." Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 81 (4), pp. 807-822. 

Research Interests

I design and test new structures for multiplatform and mobile journalism. This includes "packaging" news in different formats that address the different ways multitasking users engage with content. I am also interested in how general audiences engage with complex news about science, health and technology. I apply cognitive psychology to journalism to build my evolving P-I-C-K model. This model specifies the simultaneous combination of four elements for multimedia that is:  1. personalized, 2. interactive, and 3. coherent with minimal 4. "kick-outs" (what I call things that terminate interest in content). My research is conducted in a controlled lab, online, and in my classes that "blend" technology with face-to-face meetings.  So far, my research of each year's freshman class suggests that audience behavior continues to change rapidly with technology and that any field dependent upon the communication of digital information should be prepared for continued change.

Expertise

Digital storytelling structures
Mobile journalism techniques
Info Graphics
Reporting/anchoring for television and radio
Science and health journalism
Research methods (Quantitative and Qualitative)
Blended teaching and learning with technology
Teaching and learning with mobile devices
 

Awards

(2012) University of Maryland Excellence in Teaching Undergraduate General Education
One of two-campus wide student-nominated awards recognized by the Associated Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies 

(2012) University of Maryland Lilly Fellow
Collaboration within an interdisciplinary team of faculty to address development of "Scholarship in Practice" courses

(2011-12) University of Maryland Blended Teaching Fellow
Awarded in a campus-wide competition for funding of a new blended course with mobile devices

Affiliations

Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication (AEJMC)
AEJMC's Science Communication Interest Group 
Association of Internet Researchers
Online News Association
International Communication Association
National Communication Association 

Courses Taught

JOUR 150 New "blended" version of Intro to Mass Communication
JOUR 289i I-series course: Information 3.0: Exploring Technologies
JOUR 479Q Understanding Online News Audiences
JOUR 689M Mobile Journalism
JOUR 689R Special Topics: New Media Research Methods
JOUR 803 Doctoral Seminar
JOUR 352 Online Journalism
JOUR 361 Television Reporting and Production