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There are many situations in which you may deliver a mediated presentation at school, on the job, or in your community. Consider the following examples:

Research confirms that the use of mediated presentations is expanding. A recent survey of college presidents found that over three-fourths of institutions teach online classes.1 This has meant that teachers may be teaching substantially more students—particularly in massive open online courses (MOOCs), which are free and open to all.2 Worldwide, spending on videoconferencing technology grew from $2 billion in 20113 to $7 billion by 2014.4 The expectation going forward is that the market for video conferencing will grow by almost 10 percent per year until 2019.5 Detroit’s City Council is one of an expanding number of governmental organizations that allow people to use technology such as Skype to make comments during public meetings.6 In fact, many of the this country’s cities use Skype, and many more have embraced multiple forms of social media.7 Social media such as Skype can allow people to address a city council or a board of supervisors, even if they can’t be at the meeting in person. This kind of technology has the potential to increase civic engagement in a meaningful way.

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