Kun Xu

An article by Kun Xu, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology assistant professor in emerging media, and co-author Matthew Lombard has received the 2022 Amsterdam School of Communication Research Denis McQuail Award. The article, “Social Responses to Media Technologies in the 21st Century:…

A new study has found that manipulating social robots’ facial and kinetic cues can induce medium-to-large-sized effects on users’ social presence and trust. The findings by Kun Xu, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Media Production, Management, and Technology assistant professor in emerging media, UFCJC doctoral student…

Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications (UFCJC) Media Production, Management, and Technology professor and Media Consumer Research director, and Kun Xu, UFCJC Media Production, Management, and Technology assistant professor in emerging media, have received a $100,000 grant from Meta’s 2022 People’s Expectations & Experiences Digital Privacy…

As more uses for technology emerge, researchers are interested in studying which mechanism of technology, such as chatbots, voice assistants, and social robots, are most effective in explaining social presence and perceived trustworthiness for users. In other words, how do people tend to interact with different forms of interactive technology?…

As artificial intelligence (AI) technology has advanced, its use has expanded to a range of industries, including broadcast news. AI could be used in place of a human weather newscaster, for example, if a human is not available during a weather emergency. Yet little research exists that looks at how…

Social robots today are a $2 billion industry, which is expected to grow to $11 billion by 2026. While some believe that social robots are just human-like versions of voice assistants like Siri and Alexa, the emerging technology is being used in a variety of areas, including public health, elderly…

Kun Xu, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management, and Technology assistant professor in emerging media, is the co-author of “Man vs. Machine: Human Responses to an AI Newscaster and the Role of Social Presence” published in The Social Science Journal on Jan. 28. Xu and…

The use of smart speakers, such Alexa and Google Assistant, has become ubiquitous in American society. As of 2020, one in three people in the United States used smart speakers for a variety of daily tasks, such as online shopping, e-mail, language translation, and searching for information, as well as…

University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Media Production, Management and Technology faculty members Kun Xu, assistant professor in Emerging Media, and Sylvia Chan-Olmsted, professor and Media Consumer Research director, and doctoral student Fanjue Liu are the co-authors of “Smart Speakers Require Smart Management: Two Routes From User Gratifications…

The primary function of “social robots” is to facilitate communication with humans, and is being applied in a variety of industries, including education and physical and mental health. Kun Xu, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications Assistant Professor in Emerging Media, is studying how to enhance that communication…

Dr. Kun Xu, University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications assistant professor in emerging media in the Department of Media Production, Management and Technology, was interviewed on June 2, 2021 about his research on social cues in human-machine interactions and the convergence of various human-machine communication technologies. Below the…