Joseph Walther

Joseph B. Walther (born 1958) is the Mark and Susan Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society and the Director of the Center for Information Technology & Society at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research focuses on social and interpersonal dynamics of computer-mediated communication, in groups, personal relationships, organizational and educational settings. He is noted for creating social information processing theory in 1992 and the hyperpersonal model in 1996. Walther attended Santa Ana College, Saddleback College and spent time with the Royal Shakespeare Company at Coastline Community College before transferring to the University of Arizona and graduating magna cum laude in 1983. as well as the use of other cues (i.e. spelling ability) while participating in computer-mediated communication help address the issue of information exchange.

The social information perspective assumes that communicators in computer-mediated exchanges are similarly driven to acquire social information that will encourage the development of social relationships as are communicators using other media. Support for social information processing theory has been found in contexts such as online dating and online multi-player video games. Walther's work on the hyperpersonal model is his research that has been most cited by other researchers. The hyperpersonal model finds that in certain circumstances, computer-mediated communication surpasses the affection and emotion of similar situations of face-to-face interpersonal communication. This model also offers a robust view of computer-mediated communication, taking into account the contributions of the sender, receiver, channel and feedback in a computer-mediated interaction. Walther's hyperpersonal model predicts that media classified as less rich by media richness theory or less natural by media naturalness theory allow more socially desirable levels of interaction than face-to-face communication.

Academic appointments 1990-1992: Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication, University of Oklahoma Fall 1995: Visiting Professor, Dept. of Psychology, University of Manchester 1992-1997: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Northwestern University 1995-1996: Ameritech Research Professor, Northwestern University 1995-1997: Assistant Professor of Education and Social Policy, Northwestern University Spring, 1999: Adjunct Associate Professor (Virtual) of Communication Studies, University of Kansas 1997-2002: Associate Professor in Language, Literature, & Communication, Social Psychology, and Information Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute May, 2005: Visiting Professor, School of Communication Studies, Kent State University 2002-2006: Associate Professor, Professor in Communication, Information Science, Cornell University 2006- 2013: Professor, Dept. of Communication, Michigan State University & Professor, Dept. of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media, Michigan State University 2013 - 2017: Wee Kim Wee Professor, Division of Communication Research, Nanyang Technological University 2017- Present: Mark and Susan Bertelsen Presidential Chair in Technology and Society; Director of the Center for Information Technology & Society, UC Santa Barbara