Jan Van den Bulck, Professor of Media Effects at University of Leuven (Belgium), will present "Reality Immersion and Media Effects" during the School of Communication colloquium.
Abstract:
I am fascinated by what people believe they can learn from fictional stories. This is one of the most amazing media effects, because most people realize that fiction is just that: stories that did not really happen.
As a soldier, EMT, and martial artist I experienced the difference between fiction and reality. Ride-alongs with US police forces, visits to FBI-profilers and the Dutch Secret Service served a similar purpose. I want to explore the advantages of reality immersion. What does knowing “what it is really like” offer to the media effects scholar? Experimental archeology tries to make sense of a past we can only study indirectly - media scholars should perhaps experiment with the differences between the real world and the mediated one.
Jan Van den Bulck, PhD, DSc
School for Mass Communication Research, University of Leuven, Belgium
(currently: Brian Lamb School of Communication, Purdue University)
All are invited and encouraged to attend.
