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This book offers a practical guide for creating, funding, and growing a communication or media research lab. Drawing on the insights of experienced lab directors, it covers essential steps from defining a mission and securing space to navigating funding and fostering a collaborative, inclusive culture that supports innovation.
The book is divided into two sections. Section 1 explores reasons for starting a lab, introduces the design thinking process, and presents 10 practical tips from the editors based on their own experience. Section 2 features detailed case studies and advice from lab directors at a range of institutions from small liberal arts colleges to large state universities. These chapters highlight the challenges and successes of launching and sustaining labs in different contexts.
Through real-world examples, readers will discover strategies for building lab culture, mentoring diverse teams, promoting equity and inclusion, and aligning efforts with institutional goals. The book emphasizes clear communication, shared purpose, and mutual respect as cornerstones of research excellence.
List of contents
Chapter 1- Why Build a Communication and Media Research Lab?.- Chapter 2- Using the Design Thinking Process to Create a Communication/Media Research Lab.- Chapter 3- Life is Lab: Our Ten Tips.- Chapter 4- Barbara Geralds Institute for Storytelling and Social Impact: Creating Just and Joyful Communities Through Storytelling.- Chapter 5- The Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen.- Chapter 6- The Family Communication and Relationships Lab: Leveraging Networks to Build a Multi-Site Research Lab.- Chapter 7- iTec - Chair for Individual and Technology: Understanding human cognition, emotion, and behavior in interactions with intelligent systems.- Chapter 8: Terror Management Lab: Interdisciplinary Explorations of the Fear of Death.- Chapter 9- Cognitive Communication Science Lab: Some Tips for Running a Small, Scrappy, and Successful Communication Neuroscience Lab.- Chapter 10- The University of Houston CougAR Lab: Building an Augmented/Virtual Reality Research Lab from Scratch.- Chapter 11- Center for Advanced Computer-Human Ecosystems (CACHE): An Interdisciplinary Hub for Human-Computing Systems to Support Communication and Behavior Change.- Chapter 12- The Social Ties Lab: Building a Foundation for Collaborative, Community-Engaged Research.- Chapter 13- Stanford Social Media Lab: Pioneering Research on Media.-Chapter 14: ICCIT Labs: The CoVe, The Collaboratory, and the CoRE.-Chapter 15: The Women s Health Research Team (WHRT): Collaborate. Innovate. Advocate.-Chapter 16:The Laboratory of Media Studies (LMS): The Lab of Social Narratives, Opinions, Behaviors, and Experiences.-Chapter 17: The Communication and Social Robotics Labs at Hope College: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants and Megazords.
About the author
Chad Edwards, Ph.D. (University of Kansas) is a Professor of Communication at Western Michigan University and a Theodore von Kármán Fellow at RWTH Aachen University-Germany. He has published widely in journals such as Human-Machine Communication, Computers in Human Behavior, and Communication Education.
Autumn Edwards, Ph.D. (Ohio University) is a Professor of Communication at Western Michigan University and a Theodore von Kármán Fellow at RWTH Aachen University-Germany. She has authored over 80 articles and chapters, and co-edited Communication is… Perspectives on Theory. Her other books include The Communication Age and the DeGruyter Handbook of Robots in Society and Culture.
Patric R. Spence, Ph.D. (Wayne State University) is a Professor at the University of Central Florida. He researches crisis communication and social robotics. He has authored over 100 research articles and five textbooks and is a former editor of Communication Studies.
Summary
This book offers a practical guide for creating, funding, and growing a communication or media research lab. Drawing on the insights of experienced lab directors, it covers essential steps—from defining a mission and securing space to navigating funding and fostering a collaborative, inclusive culture that supports innovation.
The book is divided into two sections. Section 1 explores reasons for starting a lab, introduces the design thinking process, and presents 10 practical tips from the editors based on their own experience. Section 2 features detailed case studies and advice from lab directors at a range of institutions—from small liberal arts colleges to large state universities. These chapters highlight the challenges and successes of launching and sustaining labs in different contexts.
Through real-world examples, readers will discover strategies for building lab culture, mentoring diverse teams, promoting equity and inclusion, and aligning efforts with institutional goals. The book emphasizes clear communication, shared purpose, and mutual respect as cornerstones of research excellence.
