Dr. Anderson's work involves new media and communication technology. He is an author of a recently released textbook entitled Exploring Electronic Media: Chronicles & Challenges from Blackwell Publishing. Over the past several years, he has developed applications utilizing video streaming technologies and database-driven web sites. In a grant project, he investigated the use of MySQL relational database in conjunction with the PHP scripting language. He also completed a project investigating three streaming server applications (Real, Windows & Quicktime). He has also developed linear presentations using SMIL (Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language).
     Anderson was the 2004-2005 President of the Broadcast Education Association (BEA). He served as the convention program chair for BEA2000, the international conference of the association held in Las Vegas in April of 2000. He has also chaired the Production Aesthetics & Criticism Division, co-chaired the BEA Creative Activities Task Force and served on the BEA Multimedia Task Force.
       Anderson has received numerous national awards for his multimedia and video work, and has published across a broad range of journals, both academic and trade. Before coming to JMU, Dr. Anderson was on the faculty at the University of Oklahoma, where he served as the Sequence Coordinator for the Broadcasting & Electronic Media Sequence.
       Prior to entering academe, Anderson was the environmental reporter and weekend weathercaster for KCNC television, a network O&O station in Denver, Colorado where he worked between 1982 and 1989. He also worked as a news photographer, weathercaster and news reporter at stations in Fresno, California and Fargo, North Dakota.

 Interests
     New media technologies provide more than simply an improved listening or viewing experience. They are drastically changing the way users consume media — turning what was a passive experience into a media-rich world where users control and even contribute to content. Media users today can decide for themselves what they consume, when they consume it and on what kinds of devices. Multichannel video, audio and data can be delivered via terrestrial broadcast, cable, satellite, phone lines, wireless, power lines or even the mail (i.e. NetFlix). Electronic media content can be displayed on an array of devices such as iPods, cell phones, computers, television sets and even game consoles like Sony’s PlayStation Portable. Chosen content can be viewed live or delayed to fit an individual's schedule (i.e. "timeshifting" via a DVR such as TiVo). The content you pay for at home can be stored on a DVR and "placeshifted" with devices like a Slingbox. Wikis, blogs, P2P networks, RSS feeds, podcasts and vodcasts are part of the growth in personalized and user-contributed media.
       Those who produce programming must understand the more active role media users play and reach them via the avenues they prefer. These changes are about technology, but more importantly they reflect the significance of content created specifically for new delivery methods, display devices and viewing patterns. Let the fun begin!