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      We are a group of faculty and students from a variety of different departments who have come together to apply new advances in interactive media to the study and change of risky social behaviors. Currently, society is besieged by potentially divisive issues, including AIDS, cultural insensitivity, violence, sexual harassment, and discrimination. How do we effectively alter such damaging social behavior. In the digital age, interactive media holds such a promise.

The center integrates state of the art production with state of the art social science research and evaluation to develop interactive media to address these and other social issues. Members of the center are drawn from social scientists at USC who provide expertise in persuasive techniques, interpersonal dynamics, and human information processing, experts in the Cinema School who provide artistic and technical expertise in the development and production of visual media, and experts in health care communication.
 

Interactive technology provides an important new tool to better understand and change human social behavior. It holds the promise of being a far more effective way to teach complex social knowledge and behaviors to a range of populations, including those normally difficult to reach. It demands active participation and thus involves individuals who might otherwise "tune out". Moreover, interactive media allow for the realistic simulation of social experiences, such as a risky sexual encounter, that could not otherwise be studied for ethical or practical reasons. As a result, it may greatly facilitate not only the active rehearsal of new behaviors in simulated situations, but their subsequent enactment in an appropriate real-world context. Finally, interactive media can be customized for particular communities, based on their specific needs, language, and values, and can be widely distributed through CD-ROM, DVD, information kiosks, and the Internet.

We have recently completed the production of an Interactive DVD that is designed to help teach men who have sex with men to more successfully negotiate safer sex. There are versions specifically targeted at three ethnic groups: White-Anglo, Hispanic/Latino, and African-American.

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Download Windows Media Player Here

Associated Faculty

Stephen J. Read (Psychology)
Lynn C. Miller (Annenberg School and Psychology)
P. Robert Appleby (Annenberg School and Psychology)
Michael J. Cody (Annenberg School)
 

Students

Mary Nwosu
Carlos Godoy
Johnnie Christensen

Resources

 

Equipment

Two digital editing suites, based on dual processor Power Macintosh G5s, with the capability to :
digitize and edit full screen/full motion video in near broadcast quality.

SONY DV camcorder

 

Software

Final Cut Pro for Offline editing of digital video

DVD Studio Pro for creation of interactive DVDs.

 E-Mail me with questions and comments