Time Warner Cable has awarded Ping Zhang, professor at the Syracuse University of Information Studies (iSchool), a $20,000 stipend as part of its new Research Program on Digital Communications. The program, launched in February 2010, grants stipends to foster research dedicated to increasing understanding of the benefits and challenges facing the future of digital technologies in the home, office, classroom, and community.
Zhang’s proposed study was one of four nationally that Time Warner Cable selected to fund. Her study, “Consumer Responses to Targeted Advertising,” will increase understanding of how consumers view the perceived value and benefits of targeted advertising.
“We were very pleased with the initial research competition,” said Fernando Laguarda, director of the new research program and Vice President for External Affairs and Policy Counselor at Time Warner Cable. “We received high quality applications and believe the selected studies will add to the public debate about major issues now confronting the industry.”
Zhang’s research focuses on the broadly defined area of human-computer interaction (HCI). She teaches courses at the Syracuse iSchool on HCI, information systems analysis and design, database systems, and data management. She is co-editor-in-chief of the peer-reviewed journal AIS Transactions on Human-Computer Interaction, and she is senior editor of Journal of the Association for Information Systems. She has been a member of the iSchool faculty since 1995.