Summer Harlow - University of Houston
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Jack J. Valenti School of Communication
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Summer Harlow

Assistant Professor

Office: Communication Bldg.
Phone:   713-743-7354
sharlow@central.uh.edu

Dr. Harlow, an assistant professor of journalism in the Valenti School of Communication at the University of Houston, has a Ph.D. in Journalism and a M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin. Trilingual (English, Spanish, and Portuguese), she researches the intersections of emerging media technologies, international communication/journalism, alternative media, and activism, with an emphasis on Latin America and marginalized groups. She is a former Inter-American Foundation Grassroots Development Fellow, and her dissertation won the Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award for best dissertation in the field from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. Dr. Harlow is the author of  Liberation Technology in El Salvador: Re-appropriating Social Media among Alternative Media Projects , published in 2017 by Palgrave-Macmillan. Her scholarly work has received numerous recognitions from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and has been published in top peer-reviewed journals such as the  Journal of Communication ;  New Media & Society ;  Journalism ;  International Journal of Communication ;  Journalism Studies ;  Journalism Practice ;  Media, Culture & Society ; and the  Journal of Computer Mediated Communication . Before coming to  UH , she was an assistant professor of social media at Florida State University. A former newspaper reporter, Dr. Harlow stays connected to the field of journalism practice through freelancing and her work as a press freedom analyst for Freedom House.

Education

  • Ph.D. in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin
  • M.A. in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas at Austin
  • Bachelor of Journalism from the University of Missouri-Columbia
  • Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from the University of Missouri at Columbia 

Teaching

  •   Dr. Harlow teaches at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. She has taught such courses as qualitative research methods, social media advocacy campaigns, intercultural/international communication, and mass communication and society.

Selected Publications

  • Harlow, S.  (2017).   Liberation Technology in El Salvador: Re-appropriating Social Media among Alternative Media Projects. Palgrave-Macmillan.
  • Harlow, S.  (2017). Recognizing the Importance of Alternative Media: Role Perceptions and Journalistic Culture in Brazil.   Journalism Studies.
  • Harlow, S.  (2017). Quality, Innovation, and Financial Sustainability: Central American entrepreneurial journalism through the lens of its audience.  Journalism Practice, 1-22.
  • Harlow, S.,  Salaverría, R., Kilgo, D. K., & García‐Perdomo, V. (2017). Protest Paradigm in Multimedia: Social Media Sharing of Coverage About the Crime of Ayotzinapa, Mexico.  Journal of Communication. Online first.
  • García-Perdomo, V.; Salaverría, R.; Kilgo, D.K.; &   Harlow, S.  (2017). To Share or Not to Share:   The influence of news values and topics on popular social media content in the United States, Brazil, and Argentina.  Journalism Studies, 1-22.
  • Kilgo, D.K.;   Harlow, S.; Garcia, V.; Salverria, R. (2016) A new sensation? An exploration of sensationalism and social media recommendations in digitally native news organizations in the Americas.   Journalism.
  • Harlow, S.   (2016). Reconfiguring and Remediating Social Media as Alternative Media: Exploring Youth Activists’ Digital Media Ecology in El Salvador.   Palabra Clave, 19(4), 997-1026. 
  • Harlow, S., & Salaverria, R. (2016). Regenerating journalism: Exploring the 'alternativeness' and 'digitalness' of online-native media in Latin America.   Digital Journalism.
  • Chadha, M., &   Harlow, S.  (2015). The writing is on the wall, or is it? Exploring Indian activists' beliefs on social media's alternative spaces of communication.   International Journal of Communication,   9, 672-693.
  • Harlow, S.  (2015). Losing Focus: Goal Displacement at an Alternative Newspaper in El Salvador.   Media Culture and Society,   37(8), 1119-1137.
  • Harlow, S.  (2015). Twitterati as Instruments of Change? Re-appropriating Social Media for Dialogue and Action via El Salvador's Citizen Debate Site Política Stereo.   International Journal of Communication,   9, 1-20. Retrieved from   http://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/3414
  • Harlow, S.  (2015). Story-Chatterers Stirring Up Hate: Racist Discourse in Reader Comments on U.S. Newspaper Websites.   Howard Journal of Communications,   26(1), 21-42. doi: 10.1080/10646175.2014.984795
  • Harlow, S.  (2015). Beyond representation: Exploring participation in and through technology at an alternative newspaper in El Salvador.   Cuadernos,   37, 35-47.
 

Honors

  • FSU College of Communication and Information, Faculty Research Award (2015)
  • AEJMC, Nafziger-White-Salwen Dissertation Award for best dissertation in the field (2015)