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Erika Polson

Erika Polson

Professor

Director of Internships

erika.polson@du.edu

303-871-3831 (Office)

Mass Communications Building, 2490 S. Gaylord St. Denver, CO 80208

What I do

Professor, Media, Film and Journalism Studies
Director of Internships for MFJS

Specialization(s)

globalization, digital media, cultural communication, digital placemaking, geomedia, media and status

Professional Biography

Erika Polson joined the University of Denver in 2011, after receiving a PhD in Mass Communication from Penn State University in 2009 and spending two years as a professor of global media studies at Saint Louis University's Madrid campus. Dr. Polson teaches in the media studies, strategic communication, and international/intercultural communication programs in the MFJS department. Her research focuses on globalization and media, and more recently on digital media and global mobility, and appears in publications such as Media, Culture & Society; Communication, Culture & Critique; the International Journal of Communication; and New Media & Society, among other journals and edited collections. She is the author of Privileged Mobilities: Professional Migration, Geo-social Media, and a New Global Middle Class (2016), and co-editor of the Routledge Companion to Media and Class (2020) and the special issue on ‘Digital Placemaking’ in Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies (June 2021).

Degree(s)

  • Ph.D., Mass Communication, The Pennsylvania State University, 2009
  • MA, Integrated Marketing Communications, Emerson College, 1999
  • BA, Liberal Studies, Oregon State University, 1996

Professional Affiliations

  • International Communication Association
  • International Association of Media and Communication Research
  • Association of Internet Research

Research

Since Privileged Mobilities came out in 2016, Dr. Polson has continued to research digital media and globalizing middle classes, often focusing on digital place-making practices of mobile people. Through a series of recent case studies, she has critically examined how location-aware platforms and social media serve to connect people (temporarily) to place through the production of experience, and how the growing market for experiences is altering boundaries and creating new and contested claims to places. Her forthcoming book, Tagging the World: Mobile Media, Travel, and Place comes out in 2027 on Intellect Books.



Areas of Research

global middle class
geo-social media
digital placemaking
privileged mobilities

Featured Publications

Halegoua, G., & Polson, E. (2021). Exploring digital placemaking. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 27(2).
Polson, E. (2018). 'Doing' Local: Place-Based Travel Apps and the Globally Networked Self. In Z. Papacharissi (Ed.), A Networked Self: Platforms, Stories, Connections. (Vol. 2). Routledge.
Polson, E. (2019). Information SuperCalle: Fixed Mobility on Havana's WiFi Streets. In R. Wilken, Goggin, G., & Horst, H. (Eds.), Location Technologies in International Contexts. New York, NY / London, USA / United Kingdom: Routledge.
Polson, E. (2011). Belonging to the network society: Social media and the production of a new global middle class. Communication, Culture & Critique, 4(2), 144-163.
Polson, E. (2016). Negotiating independent mobility: Single female expats in Bangalore. European Journal of Cultural Studies.

Presentations

Polson, E. (2021). Socialities and Mobility Fetishism. GeoMedia 2021. Online/Remote: University of Siegen (Germany).
Polson, E. (2020). Panel: Socializing the networked individual: Considering mobile socialities. Association of Internet Researchers. online: AoIR.
Polson, E. (2021). The "Hashtag Sociality" of #Solotravelers. International Communication Association (ICA) Annual Conference. Online/Remote: International Communication Association.
Polson, E. (2020). Panel: Digital Placemaking. Association of Internet Researchers. online: AoIR.
Polson, E. (2019). Digital nomads and the production of aspirational mobility. Media Colloquium. Copenhagen, Denmark: IT University of Copenhagen.
Polson, E. (2019). From the tag to the #hashtag: Street art, Instagram, and gentrification. Aesthetics of Gentrification. Portland, OR: Slow Lab at University of Oregon.
Polson, E. (2018). The Socialities of Place-Based Mobile. ICA Annual Conference. Prague, Czech Republic: Place-Based Travel Apps and the Aspiring Local.
Polson, E. (2018). Mobile Girls: Geo-Social Media and the Feminization of Expat Labor. Media, Techno-political Action, and Social Justice Symposium. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University School of Communication and Information.
Polson, E. (2018). Place-Based Travel Apps and the Aspiring Local. ICA Annual Conference. Prague, Czech Republic: International Communication Association.
Polson, E. (2017). "Do You Do Local?" Place-Based Travel Apps and the Exotification of Everyday Life. GeoMedia 2017. Karlstad, Sweden: Department of Geography and Communication, Karlstad University.

Awards

  • Honorable Mention: IAMCR Urban Communication Award , IAMCR
  • Dean's Award for Excellence (DAFE), $5000, CAHSS