Ashleigh Koebele
Biography
Ashleigh K. Shelton joined the University of Massachusetts Boston faculty as a lecturer in the spring of 2011. She loves to spend her spare time with media as much as she loves to study it. Her research focuses on the social and psychological dimensions of digital media technologies and, in particular, the entertainment value and effects of video games and social media.
Area of Expertise
Digital Media Entertainment, Video Games, Presence, Social Media, Popular Culture, Media Effects
Degrees
MA (Mass Communication), University of Minnesota
BA (Communication), University of Minnesota Duluth
Additional Information
Recent projects have included book chapters and journal articles examining the impact of naturally mapped video game controllers on presence, source credibility in a social media setting, linkage points between advergames, tourism and major mass communication theories, controversial content on Facebook, the potential for presence to affect outcomes of media exposure, differences in perceptions of communication quality between bots and human agents on Twitter, and the relationship between virtual identities, virtual consumption and real world consumption.
Shelton teaches courses on mass media, popular culture, visual communication, and media effects at both UMass Boston and the University of Minnesota. When not in the classroom you can find her baking cupcakes, watching sports, being a juke box hero, going to the movies, running outside, and playing video games of all genres from Resident Evil and 2K Sports, to Mario Kart and Zelda.