University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Journalism & Mass Communications professor Laurie Thomas Lee, Ph.D., co-edited a special issue of the Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly on “Information Access and Control in an Age of Big Data.”
Lee edited the special issue with Edward Carter, Ph.D., professor and director at Brigham Young University School of Communications. The issue attempted “to explore the problems and possible solutions surrounding the issue of who controls Big Data and how to access the information contained therein,” according the editors’ essay.
The editors received nearly 40 submissions, with editors from institutions representing six countries. More than 100 peer reviewers assisted in reading and critiquing the submissions. Finally, eight were selected for the special issue.
“As an editor, it was interesting to be on the other side of the publication process, identifying and securing the most qualified reviewers for each type of manuscript and then seeing the best mix of manuscripts go from selection to editing and, ultimately, publication online and in print,” Lee said. “It was quite rewarding, and I think our authors helped make this a great special issue that’s not only timely but useful and thought-provoking.”
The manuscripts made advancements in methodology while analyzing large data sets from Twitter and Facebook, and other manuscripts helped to shape our understanding of access and control from a theoretical and legal perspective, particularly in the area of privacy, Lee said.
Lee is a professor broadcasting and journalism. She holds a doctorate in mass media from Michigan State University, a Master of Arts in communications from the University of Iowa and a Bachelor of Science in telecommunications from Kearney State College. She has been teaching since the 1980s and at University of Nebraska–Lincoln since 1992.
Her research work is focused on media law and media economics, particularly in the areas of privacy and new technology. Her work has been published in academic journals and in law review journals. For more information about Lee, visit http://journalism.unl.edu/laurie-thomas-lee.
To view the special issue, visit http://jmq.sagepub.com/content/current.
Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly (JMCQ) is the flagship journal of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). It is a quarterly, peer-reviewed ISI-ranked journal that focuses on research in journalism and mass communication. Established in 1924, JMCQ or the Quarterly is the oldest refereed scholarly journal in mass communication and provides leadership in scholarship for the field. It serves all the divisions and interest groups of AEJMC and publishes original articles and book reviews on topics including but not limited to theoretical and methodological developments in journalism and mass communication, international communication, media technologies and society, advertising, public relations, journalism history, media law and policy, media management and economics, political communication and health communication.
