Donald F. Roberts
Encyclopedia
Donald F. Roberts is the Thomas More Storke Professor Emeritus in Communication at Stanford University
.
Roberts studied at Columbia University
, where he received his B.A. in 1961, at the University of California, Berkeley
, where he earned an M.A. in 1963, and at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1968 and joined the Stanford faculty at that time. At Stanford, he was Director of the Institute for Communication Research (1985–1990 and 1999–2001), and chair of the Department of Communication (1990–1996). He retired in 2006.
Much of Roberts' research concerns the effects of media on youth. A notable study coauthored by Roberts and Ulla Foehr for the Kaiser Family Foundation
found that, at the turn of the millennium, U.S. children spent the equivalent amount of time to a full-time job watching television and other media, and a later follow-on study by Roberts and others coined the name “Generation M
” for the youth of the day after discovering that they were packing even more media into their schedules by multitasking
.
Roberts also studied depictions of drug use and violence in media, and took part in 1997 U.S. Senate hearings on violent music lyrics. Roberts' research provided the foundation for the content rating systems of the Recreational Software Advisory Council
, of which he was a board member, and its successor organization the Internet Content Rating Association
.
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
.
Roberts studied at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he received his B.A. in 1961, at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, where he earned an M.A. in 1963, and at Stanford University. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford in 1968 and joined the Stanford faculty at that time. At Stanford, he was Director of the Institute for Communication Research (1985–1990 and 1999–2001), and chair of the Department of Communication (1990–1996). He retired in 2006.
Much of Roberts' research concerns the effects of media on youth. A notable study coauthored by Roberts and Ulla Foehr for the Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on the major health care issues facing the nation, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy...
found that, at the turn of the millennium, U.S. children spent the equivalent amount of time to a full-time job watching television and other media, and a later follow-on study by Roberts and others coined the name “Generation M
Generation Z
Generation Z is a common name in the US and other Western nations for the group of people born from the early 1990s through to the present....
” for the youth of the day after discovering that they were packing even more media into their schedules by multitasking
Media multitasking
For other uses, see multitasking Media multitasking involves using TV, the Web, radio, telephone, print, or any other media in conjunction with another...
.
Roberts also studied depictions of drug use and violence in media, and took part in 1997 U.S. Senate hearings on violent music lyrics. Roberts' research provided the foundation for the content rating systems of the Recreational Software Advisory Council
Recreational Software Advisory Council
The Recreational Software Advisory Council was an independent, non-profit organization founded in the USA in 1994 by the Software Publishers Association as well as six other industry leaders in response to video game controversy and threats of government regulation.The goal of the council was to...
, of which he was a board member, and its successor organization the Internet Content Rating Association
Internet Content Rating Association
Internet Content Rating Association was an international non-profit organization with offices in the United States and the United Kingdom...
.
Books
- The Process and Effects of Mass Communication (with Wilbur SchrammWilbur SchrammWilbur Lang Schramm is sometimes called the "father of communication studies," and had a great influence on the development of communication research in the United States, and the establishing of departments of communication studies in US universities.Schramm was born in Marietta, Ohio...
). University of Illinois Press, 1971, ISBN 9780252001970. - It's Not Only Rock & Roll: Popular Music in the Lives of Adolescents (with Peter G. Christenson). Hampton Press, 1998, ISBN 9781572731424.
- Substance Use in Popular Music Videos, Diane Publishing Co., 2001, ISBN 9780756733865.
- Kids and Media in America: Patterns of Use at the Millennium (with Ulla G. Foehr). Cambridge University Press, 2003, ISBN 978-0521527903.