Centers and Research Groups

The Center for Communication and Democracy
The Center for Communication and Democracy houses a research and action project at UW-Madison. The goals of the center are to study how citizens can use new communications technologies to advance democratic discussion and civic participation; to explore the relationships between geographic communities and the emerging world of cyberspace; to explore the structural relations among communications and information markets, the civic sector, and government to find relationships necessary to build and sustain a public sphere in communication that is not dominated by the market.

Consumer Culture and Civic Participation
Our goal is to bridge scholarship from various disciplines, including communications, economics, history, marketing, political science, psychology and sociology, to investigate the fluid and evolving relationship among mass media, consumption, markets, and civic and political life. We approach this work from a multiplicity of perspectives, focusing on topics such as taste cultures, identity politics, conspicuous consumption, political marketing, globalization and the notion of the citizen consumer.

The Mass Communication History Center
The Mass Communication History Center, a part of the Wisconsin Historical Society, provides scholars access to private collections, papers, and various types of unpublished materials relating to the growth of mass communication in the United States and other parts of the world. The Wisconsin Historical Society also has a large collection of bound and microfilm files of American and foreign newspapers.

Mass Communication Research Center (MCRC)
The MCRC encompasses faculty/student research groups that rely on (a). A research orientation – an opportunity for extra-curricular engagement with mass communication research topics, theories, and methods; (b). Open participation – a policy where any students and faculty who demonstrate a desire and willingness to be involved in these collaborations may do so; and (c). Student direction – an expectation that students themselves will be instrumental in setting the agenda for, and contributing to the goals of, each group’s activities, thus helping to develop both leadership and pedagogical skills.

MCRC-Media and Politics
The goal of this graduate student and faculty collaborative is to integrate scholarship from communications, political science, psychology and sociology to investigate the effects of mass media on political judgment and reasoning. This working group has a long history in the school, where it has been a center of research activity focusing on media and politics for over 35 years.

MCRC-Blog Club
Blog Club is a student-faculty research collaborative focused on the study of the political blogosphere, yet broadly concerned with the implications of the Internet for Democracy. This working group seeks to examine the connection between digital media and civic and political life.

MCRC-Science, Media & Society
The Science, Media & Society (sms) research group looks at the interaction of media content, knowledge, affect and attitudes and their impact on public opinion and behavior for a wide range of issues. our research seeks to identify the social and interpersonal contexts and variables that shape the communication process.