Matthew Matsaganis

Ph.D., University of Southern California
Assistant Professor

Teaching and Research Area/s: Organizational Communication, Health Communication, Communication and Technology, Political Communication
Office: SS 329
Phone: (518) 442-4860
Fax: (518) 442-3884
E-mail: mmatsaganis@albany.edu

Matthew Matsaganis' Teaching and Research Interests:

• Health communication and health disparities
• Civic engagement and community capacity building
• Neighborhood effects
• Ethnic, diasporic, immigrant, and minority media
• Communication technologies and communication policy
• Organizational communication
• Urban communication

Research Projects

• (Re-) Discovering the Communication Engine of Neighborhood Health Effects
  
  In recent years, my research has evolved around two interrelated axes: (a) advancing our understanding of the role communication plays as a social mechanism through which the physical, built, and social environment impacts urban residents’ health; and (b) investigating how community organizations, media, and other institutional resources can increase health literacy and improve access to health care in ethnically diverse communities. In pursuing these lines of inquiry, I aim to address a few of the gaps in the burgeoning and exciting work currently being done in a variety of fields, from sociology and anthropology, to economics, geography,  and the life sciences, on ‘neighborhood effects’ and health.
  
  Working with colleagues from California, Georgia, Iowa, and New Jersey, I am currently developing papers that: (a)explore if and how neighborhood-based communication networks that include residents, community organizations, and local and ethnically-targeted media, can be leveraged to build health literacy in diverse ethnic communities,  particularly around diabetes and hypertension; (b) investigate the extent to which communicative ties among neighbors in a community can help them overcome structural constraints to better health care access (and, if so, under what conditions); and (c) map the communication ecologies individuals construct in the process of their everyday lives to manage health problems.
  
  
  
• Building Civic Engagement in Diverse Ethnic Communities
  
  Currently, I am working on two related projects with colleagues from USC in Los Angeles, Oregon State University in Corvallis, and the University of Iowa in Iowa City.
  
  The first is focused on determining the impact of communicative ties within and across ethnic groups in a particular residential community on civic engagement. In previous work, we found that the degree to which residents in a variety of multi-ethnic communities are integrated into the indigenous communication network (consisting of neighbors and their families, community organizations, and local media) predicts higher levels of neighborhood belonging, collective efficacy, and political participation – all three conceived as important dimensions of civic engagement. As part of this new project we are investigating how the quality of inter-group relations among residents of different ethnic backgrounds (primarily of Hispanic and African American origin) mediates the relationship between communication in the residential community and civic engagement. This work builds upon and extends prior research done on bridging (i.e., inter-group) and bonding (i.e., intra-group) social capital.
  
  The second project centers on the question of how residents’ travel patterns in and out of their neighborhood in order to access services and other resources influences their levels of neighborhood belonging, collective efficacy, and political participation. Prior research suggests that civic engagement at the local level depends in part on the presence of a vibrant business community. Several studies have focused on how local business owners and managers become involved in the everyday life of the communities they serve and how they help build and sustain civic engagement. In other projects, researchers have argued that small, local businesses are often places where staff or employees with very different ethnic backgrounds first encounter each other and forge relationships (i.e., where bridging social capital is created). Looking beyond local businesses at the role of other neighborhood institutional resources, considerable work has been done to demonstrate the positive impact that local, community and non-profit organizations can have in terms of building civic engagement in a neighborhood. Building on our own past work where we elaborate the often overlooked role of communication as a process through which civic engagement is constructed at the neighborhood level, in this project we begin to explore what happens to civic engagement when residents are forced to leave their neighborhood in search of services and resources because they do not exist where they live or because they are not of good quality.
  
  
  
• Ethnic Media in Local and Global Worlds
  
  Many sources point to the rise in the number of ethnic media in the U.S. and worldwide. Currently, the National Directory of Ethnic Media, which is compiled and updated every year by New America Media (a collaboration of ethnic media founded in 1996 by non-profit Pacific News Service) contains information on over 2,200 ethnic media organizations in the United States.  The 2006 Ford Foundation Report indicates that in New York, for example, the circulation of Chinese language dailies has grown from about 170,000 in 1990 to more than half a million today. One in three New Yorkers are Hispanic and four Spanish-language dailies serve this population.  In other major cities in the United States, the European Union, and Australia, the growth of ethnic media is equally significant.
  
  This reality, my professional background in journalism, as well as research I have been engaged in with colleagues in the numerous diverse ethnic communities of Los Angeles, in California, led to a joint effort with Vikki Katz (at Rutgers University) and Sandra Ball-Rokeach (at the University of Southern California) to address the growing need within academia for a new book that can serve as a core text in communication, media, and journalism studies, in particular, to better understand the socio-political, cultural, and economic roles ethnic media play in a globalizing world. 
  
  To do so, we have conducted an extensive review of the existing literature and research – old, new, and ongoing – done worldwide on ethnic, immigrant, minority, indigenous, and diasporic media. We are also building upon the knowledge we have accumulated through our personal and collective work with colleagues at the Metamorphosis Project (http://www.metamorph.org/). In addition, we are grateful for the insightful discussions we have been able to have with academics, journalists and media producers from many countries. Although our book, Ethnic Media in Local and Global Worlds (working title), is slated for publication in 2010, that does not mean that our interest in the many dimensions of the subject have an expiration date.
  
  
• The Social Impact of Voice-Over-IP and Broadband Technologies
  
  Since 2007, my work has focused on two particular topics. In both cases, my research has been driven by the need to continue to seek ways to bridge digital divides. This need emerges clearly from data collected from a variety of sources, in the U.S. and beyond. The first topic I have been investigating is the social uses of Voice-over-IP technology and related applications, especially among ethnic minority populations.  A study I conducted in 2008-2009 with Latino residents from two Los Angeles communities suggested that many Latinos, regardless of whether or not they were Internet users, recognize the brand names of some VoIP service providers and positively associate VoIP with a lower cost compared to conventional PSTN-based telephone services. However, most do not take steps to adopt the technology mainly because they do not know enough about how it works or how to gain the savings. Those who do take steps to use VoIP rely less on their home landline and enjoy lower cell phone bills, according to this exploratory study. Most also have stopped using calling cards. This initial study showed that Latino VoIP adopters spend on communication services an average of 13 percent less each month than Internet connectors who do not use VoIP.
  
  The second topic I have been exploring is the barriers to broadband adoption among ethnic minority populations. Currently, I am working on a proposal for a study to further investigate (a) the barriers that keep Latino dial-up users from switching to broadband and (b) to improve our understanding of socio-demographic factors, but also attitudes and behaviors that keep non-Internet users offline. In addition, the study aims (c) to examine what incentives at the individual level and what interventions at the policy level could improve broadband adoption rates across the U.S. and particularly among Latinos. Contrary to many studies, which focus on English-dominant Latinos only, this study will target both English and Spanish-dominant Latinos.
  
  

Publications/Presentations