Stephen Lind

As AI-driven spokesperson technologies proliferate in professional communication, communicators need evidence about how audiences evaluate synthetic presenters. This experimental study (N = 561) tested whether synthetic humanlike spokespersons (SHS avatars) can match human presenters in high-stakes persuasive contexts. Participants viewed identical business pitch videos delivered by either a human or an SHS avatar and then rated perceived message effectiveness (understandability, memorability, persuasiveness) and brand impression (competence, trustworthiness, likability). Results showed no significant main effects of actual modality. Instead, perceived humanness, coined and theoretically developed here as organic passing, was the decisive factor: viewers who believed they were watching a human rated both message effectiveness and brand impression significantly higher. SHS avatars achieved ~50% organic passing, and a cluster analysis revealed distinct audience segments that varied by detection ability and receptivity. These findings indicate that audience perception, not technical modality, drives outcomes in AI-mediated professional communication, offering a receiver-side mechanism useful for future researchers and practical design guidance for ethical, effective deployment of synthetic spokespersons.

Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strip franchise, the most successful of all time, forever changed the industry. For more than half a century, the endearing, witty insights brought to life by Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and Lucy have caused newspaper readers and television viewers across the globe to laugh, sigh, gasp, and ponder. A Charlie Brown Religion explores one of the most provocative topics Schulz broached in his heartwarming work--religion.

Based on new archival research and original interviews with Schulz's family, friends, and colleagues, author Stephen J. Lind offers a new spiritual biography of the life and work of the great comic strip artist. Through a thorough study of the 17,897 Peanuts newspaper strips, seventy-five animated titles, and global merchandising empire, the book explores behind-the-scenes and insider-takes in the many ways Schulz defied industry convention and established and evergreen business rivaled by few.

The greeting card industry is a multi-billion-dollar global social phenomenon withmore than a billion cards purchased in the U.S. during Christmas alone. This includescards purchased by small businesses seeking to capitalize on an existing or possiblerelationship with their customer base. Yet, little is known about how small businessesstrategically approach the use of greeting cards. This white paper outlines howgreeting cards are a pervasive and potentially powerful business communicationartifact. It reports the results of a nationwide survey of U.S. small businesses thatcollected data on the scope and content of professional greeting card use. The resultsindicate that small businesses across the U.S. are meaningfully engaging greetingcards during the winter holiday season as a business communication tool rich insymbolic and relational potential.

Despite its ubiquity across business contexts, video creation is a rarity in businesscommunication curricula. This article is intended to offer the field of businesscommunication education both a rationale and mechanism by which to better alignwith modern business communication practice. Part 1 provides a comprehensivedemonstration of the pervasive uses of video in business, including statisticalevidence, genre examples, and analysis of the medium’s communicative value. Part 2(and subsequent appendices) then empowers the business communication educatorto implement the change suggested in Part 1 by way of a turnkey assignment easilyadaptable across business courses.

A nationwide study on what communication technologies are used within the workplace, what technologies practitioners value most, and what tech skills they want in the future.