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This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on the Quality Matters Rubric. Description : While Rutgers has not fully involved itself in the Quality Matters program, the Rubric that has been created by this organization is quite good. Although specifically designed to review online classes or online components of classes, the Quality Matters Rubric still has lots of value for on-campus courses and can be used to gauge the structural quality of a course. (

It is true that I run our school’s unofficial March Madness basketball tournament. We have 32 entries this year (our biggest group ever) and as we head to the Final Four our top spots are firmly held by Robb Crocker and Dan Benovitz (who can only win it all if UConn wins its semifinal game). Jenn Theiss and Meredith Miller will decide a tie for third based on the score of the championship game.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Any Video Converter. Description : One of the things I truly love about the Flip video cameras is the how easily they capture video, one of the things I don't love about the Flip video cameras is the size of the files they create. I wanted to put something out on Any Video Converter which is a product that I use to make the file sizes of Flip recorded videos smaller for uploading to course shells, the comminfo server, etc.

Today we sent out a notice to all Ph.D. program faculty that it is time to seek nominees for our Ph.D. program director for the next 3-year term beginning July 1, 2011. As I was assembling that form and email, I was reminded of some comments I had prepared for a graduate seminar this spring on leadership issues in academia. Thus, I thought I’d share with you a few of my own views on useful leadership qualities of a Ph.D. Director (or other academic leader).

RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK 2010-2011 Thursday, 31 March   -   5 p.m. (Teleconference Lecture Hall, Alexander Library) SONIA CANCIAN Concordia University | Université de Montréal The Poetics and Politics in the Intimate Worlds of Immigrant and Homeland Epistolarity "The letter--perhaps the most intimate manifestation of our humanity for millennia." Ivar Ivask One vehicle that has maintained links between kin, friends, and lovers was the letter.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Dropbox. Description : Not to be confused with the Drop Boxes in eCollege or Sakai, Dropbox is a service that allows you to back-up and sy nc files across many computers (either Mac or Windows). It also allows you to share folders with others and have public files that you can share with the world via a URL.

Although our thoughts have been with the people of Japan over the last few days, I’d like to share with you something else that I’ve been doing these past few days. Late last week I flew to Las Vegas for a reunion with a group of buddies from one of my graduate programs (Masters at San Diego State University). Actually, we try and get together once a year—but this one was special for multiple reasons.

If you haven't seen it, check out the Khan Academy ( www.khanacademy.org ).  It's a new non-profit online learning initiative with some very helpful videos and interactive lessons explaining various topics in math, science and some other fields. It represents an innovative and effective approach to online teaching and learning and at a very affordable price for the learner...free!  

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on one of my inspirations - The Khan Academy. Description : This video is a little less "practical" in nature, but I wanted to share this topic as it's a source of inspiration behind a lot of what I do and what I'm interested in. Several months back I was working with someone who wanted to find supplemental video(s) to support some of the statistics topics in his class.

This past summer, my family spent 6 days at Disney World—covering all four theme parks, both water parks, and Downtown Disney. It was a wonderful trip worth all the planning, travel time, and money we invested. I still think of Splash Mountain, Test Track, Soarin’, Kali River Rapids, Expedition Everest, Tower of Terror, and all the other rides and attractions we enjoyed there.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on YouTube - Annotations and Interactive Videos. Description : Inspired by this post on how to make an interactive YouTube video - http://www.knewton.com/blog/edtech/education-edtech/2010/12/15/how-to-make-an-interactive-lesson-using-youtube I decided to try some of this out on my own. After a long week I decided to make this video a little more "fun", so my dog, Teddy, will be helping me out with this one.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…” (from Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities ) That well-know beginning to Dickens’s novel could almost describe the Ph.D. application process.  We are excited to have an incredible number of applicants, but we’re a bit overwhelmed at reviewing them all. It is a time where we see some very smart applicants we wish to recruit, but the pool also reveals several clearly not ready for doctoral study. It is a season of light as we prepare to welcome highly regarded admits for a campus recruitment event, but also a season of darkness as we near time to make painful rejections.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on the creation/use of a PowerPoint Scenario Template. Description : My inspiration this week come from Tom Kuhlmann's "Rapid eLearning Blog" and his post "Build Branched E-Learning Scenarios in Three Simple Steps". I liked very much how he termed the Challenge, Choice, and Consequence model of building a brief template that could be easily inserted into any PowerPoint Deck.

Rutgers Seminar in the History of the Book features Professor GEOFFREY TURNOVSKY (University of Washington, Seattle) Thursday, February 24 5:30 PM (Pane Room - Alexander Library) Authorial Modesty and its Readers: Mondanité and Modernity in 17th-century France The culture of mid 17th-century mondanité has been of growing interest to scholars seeking to rescue this "archive galante" from the neglect, on one hand, of Classicism and its champions, and on the other, of a Romantic view that sees this culture's rootedness in elite sociability as corrupt and archaic. My talk builds on recent work by Delphine Denis, Alain Viala, and others, who have undertaken to characterize the particular logic of mondanité, contextualizing it as an articulation of intellectual modernity. This work has highlighted authorial identities and strategies, with "modern" generally indicating the autonomy and legitimacy of writers.

Doctoral coursework is usually demanding. Expectations on a research team are inevitably high. Dissertation work can take incredible amounts of energy.

[[ Note: Since recording this @5min Video, I've also been using, and am quite happy with EmbedPlus - http://www.embedplus.com/ which not only lets you crop, but add a lot of other features as well. It's worth checking out. ]] This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on a YouTube Slicing tool called Splicd.

February 14 is upon us and amazingly, I actually remembered to (a) buy my special someone some nice flowers and (b) resist giving the chocolate she is trying to avoid. I also thought I should take this opportunity to send a few Valentine’s Day notes to some special people affiliated with the program.  If I had those little heart-shaped candies with special messages, here’s how I’d distribute them (the phrases below are all actual messages printed on those treats): "Be Mine" – I realize it is probably going to take more than candy to get them here, but these go to the admitted program applicants we really hope will join us in the fall. "Awe-Some" – This goes out to the many students in the program who are always helping out and building the wonderful community of doctoral students we have (I am truly in awe at some of you).  “

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on  Adding Audio Files to your Course Shell. Description : I have to admit, this was a tough one to make. There are so many possible ways that audio can be added to a course shell and so many advantages/disadvantages to each method that it was tough to decide how to create these videos.

Yesterday was, of course, Super Bowl Sunday. In truth, I have not deeply cared about the outcome of this game since 1999 (when my now beleaguered Broncos were last World Champions). I suspect many non-cheeseheads and large numbers of those not waving terrible towels also felt minimal interest in this year’s matchup of two teams who’ve already had more than their fair share of success. And yet, I was one of an estimated 100 million +

This installment in the @5min Video series is on "Simple" Audio Recording. This installment is actually a set of recordings on Audio Recording/Capture devices, Installing and Setting Up Audacity, and creating an mp3 file using either Audacity or a Recorder and a file conversion website. Description : Over the last few weeks I've helped people with various approaches to dealing with weather issues and their classes.

Iulian Vamanu is invited to present on his dissertation work at the 2011 iConference Doctoral Research Colloquium . The 20 participants in that special session were “chosen from among a record breaking 89 applicants,” according to the Colloquium program.

TO THE SOURCE SYMPOSIUM THURSDAY, March 31, 2011 Workshop & Symposium 11:00 AM–6:30 PM | SOURCE at 10 Reception & Panel 6:30–9 PM Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey School of Communication and Information   More at: http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/book_history/source_symp2011 This one-day symposium will explore the theory and practice generated around the concept of SOURCE. Across a series of events, we will reflect on practices of collecting, politics and publics of the archive, critical thought initiated from and disciplinary discourses framing the primary source, as well as the materiality and form of the source, be it letter, daguerreotype or digital object. This discussion aims to transcend boundaries - by bringing together academics and practitioners from a wide range of institutions of the cultural record.

We are just a few days away from winter’s midpoint and one of the more amusing American holidays: Ground Hog Day. The event is a little extra exciting out in these parts because famed weather predictor Punxsutawney Phil resides only a few hours west of here. Based on the familiar legend, if Phil sees his shadow (which he apparently does most years) there will be six more weeks of winter.  If he does not, there will be an early spring.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Using a Webcam like a Document Camera. Description : Why would you use a use a webcam like a document camera? Well, you can use a webcam like a document camera to show the process of grading or making comments on a physical paper, to show a passage or area in a book, journal article, etc.

One of my least favorite tasks as program director is addressing some version of this question: “What is the funding situation for doctoral students?” It is not really a “fun” question, but it is an important one that will be asked by many prospective students (as well as job applicants, outside evaluators, and even our own faculty). At times, I feel like I’m in the Jerry Maguire movie and everyone is yelling “Show Me The Money!” The question is tough because we are not one of those programs that is able to fund every student it admits. We don’t have a university-wide public speaking course that must be staffed with doctoral students nor are we some incredibly well-endowed program with a long history of ample assistantship lines.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Easy Video Recording of Presentations. Notes: These recordings were not edited in any way, just combined into one video. The ambient noise you hear in the first part of the video (classroom) is the HVAC system.

With each passing Christmas, my kids grow a little more suspicious about Santa Claus and the true origins of their gifts. That inquisitiveness, combined with our strategic ambiguity about who Santa is, has already led to several questions. I will be sad when that magic ends, because there is little else like the anticipation on your kids’ faces and their excitement as they prepare to see what “Santa” has brought them.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on a new Quick Guide to Technologies for Instruction. Description : In this video I wanted to quickly review a document that I created to briefly cover technologies that can be used for instruction and who to contact for assistance in their use. I tried to keep this list as brief as possible as I know this can get overwhelming very quickly.

Marianne Martens receives the ALISE/LMC Paper Award for "The Librarian Lion: Constructing Children's Literature Through Connections, Capital, and Criticism (1910-1914).

The recent census confirms New Jersey is still #1 in population density. And we are #1 in several income categories.  Of course, we are also #1 in tax burden and apparently #1 among the states in “unfair” traffic tickets. Yes, you can find rankings for almost anything.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Prepping for the Upcoming Semester. Description : In Stephen Covey's Time Management Matrix, the sweet spot is Quadrant Two - Important, but not Urgent tasks and activities. This quadrant is particularly important for planning and preparing to help avoid spending too much time in Quadrant One - Urgent and Important.

Every year, I join what seems to be the widespread ritual of writing an annual “holiday letter” to friends and family. For me, it is a chance to creatively highlight events of the past year (this year’s version was in multiple choice exam format, which no doubt failed to amuse some recipients). So, with the new year upon us and since I did not blog during my fall sabbatical (which I think went well—helping me tie up some loose ends, write a major book proposal, and simply find some time to renew my energies), let me quickly recap a few highlights from a busy fall semester in the program.

Doctoral candidate Marianne Martens presented a pre-proposal of her dissertation,   ­­A Historical and Comparative Analysis of Multiplatform Books for Young Readers: Technologies of Production, User-Generated Content, and Economics of Affective and Immaterial Labor on December 17, 2010 Congratulations!

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Free and Easy Desktop Sharing with join.me Description : After using this for two different meetings (one in combination with Skype/one combined with a teleconference), I've seen join.me act as a dependable and very fast desktop sharing application. Sometimes the easiest way to explain is to show. Screencasting is good for this purpose, especially for those things you might have to show more than once, but sometimes you need to do this live.

This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Creating a Simple Learning Game with PowerPoint. Description : Games are a great way to get students involved with the content that you are presenting to them. This video shows an example of the beginnings of a quick game created to reinforce the Steak, Sizzle and Style approach to presentations.

[Dec 2011 Update: we are looking for more students for these projects for Fall 2012 -- apply before the January deadline to be considered for funding! This year, we are also looking for a student to join the collaborative project with Columbia, from the Columbia side: apply here ].   Work on interesting projects with a fun group, live near New York City, and do a PhD on Social Media topics?

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the @5min Video "series" is on Simple "Do" Activities and Puzzlemaker sites. Description : "Do" activities allow for interaction with knowledge that is presented in "Absorb" types of activities (Lecture, Readings) so that students can begin to transform the information presented into knowledge and skills. "Do" activities can also come before "Absorb" activities to indicate gaps that will be filled in by the "Absorb" part of the class (i.e.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the 5min Video "series" is on  Rating Systems to increase student input and engagement Description : Wh en I was teaching I always wanted to have a system that would allow me to have students submit a resource (article suggestion, general class or exam question, video or audio resource, book to read, etc.) which would then allow other students to vote on their favorite or the most important. The idea to me was a site like Digg but for class content. Well, I did other things in my classes when teaching, but this is something I've always come back to.

This installment in the 5min Video "series" is on Holiday Travel with TED Talks. Description : If you're like me you're going to be doing some traveling over the next few days and will need something to listen to or watch. In this video I wanted to show 3 places where you can view, listen, or download TED Talks.

Professor Lydia Wevers will talk about her most recent publication Reading on the Farm: Victorian Fiction and the Colonial World (2010) Tattered Favorites - Reading America in the New Zealand bush Imagine a glass bookcase. You expect tooled leather, gilt lettered spines, burnished with age and careful handling, clean and crisp. Instead the 2000 books of the Brancepeth Station Library are torn, stained and filled with reader debris-annotations, crumbs, dripped wax, spilled tea, pressed flowers, sketches, lists, mud, insects and, once, a half smoked cigarette.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the 5min video series is on Learning Objectives Description : An integral part of course creation, Learning Objectives set the stage for a course, class, or lesson, provide students with solid ideas of what they will be able to do (or how they will be able to express their new/developed knowledge, behaviors, attitudes, skills, etc.), and create strong evaluation criteria by which to review the effectiveness of the course, class, or lesson. Tools Shown: n/a Tools Used: PowerPoint, Panopto, USB Headset Resources: Video (9:50) - http://bit.ly/gYrWi0 Blog entry - http://comminfo.rutgers.edu/blogs/sgarwood/learning-objectives.html Recommended Article (From Carol Gordon’s Lunch talk on Learning Objectives 2/17/10) - Winegarden , B.J. (2005). "

RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK 2010-2011  - Public lecture by Gerry Beegan  (Rutgers University) Thursday, 18 November6 p.m. (Pane Room, Alexander Library) "Coming Closer: The Photomechanical Page and the Visual Turn" Abstract: In my book The Mass Image I discuss photographic reproduction as an element in the surge of hand drawn and photographic imagery in the late Victorian press. The introduction of photomechanical technologies destabilized reproduction and representation so that the discrete categories of photograph, wood engraving, halftone and drawing took on a new fluidity.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) Ok, yes, this video comes in at about 10 minutes. Given it's on the topic of engagement it felt well worth it to go above 5 minutes. This installment in the 5min video series is on student engagement.

September 12, 2010, was a big day in Turkey. Not only did the Turkish men's basketball team play the FIBA world basketball cup finals against the United States, but, perhaps more importantly, it was the day when the country voted on a referendum to amend the Turkish constitution. As a Turkish citizen living in the U.S.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the 5min Video "series" is on Simple Tools for Class Websites. Description : Do you have students present information via a website or use a website for a project? Especially if your class is less about coding/programming and more about techniques for delivery and design, these tools could be very helpful.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the Description : Yes, this video is 1:40 over the 5 minute limit, I hope you'll agree that it's worth the extra time. In this video we'll take a look at one way of creating a collaborative bookmarking project in a course. Collaborative bookmarking projects are a great way to rapidly develop web resources on a topic, get a class thinking of a topic in common terms, and develop teamwork.

RUTGERS SEMINAR IN THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK 2010-2011  - Public lecture by Martha Rust  (New York University) Thursday, 28 October 6 p.m. (Pane Room, Alexander Library) "Northumbrian Gold, Wear Valley Green: The Illuminated Realm of John Lacy, Book Artisan and Anchorite" Abstract: A space for dwelling in prayer, a room closed off from the world that made way for an openness to God: the stony confines of anchorite John Lacy’s cell were meant to serve as a threshold to mystic rapture. As a book artisan as well as an anchorite, however, Lacy also had privileged access to an annex to his anchorhold in the form of the bookish “cells” of text and image he created and, in the process, projected himself into, in the case of Oxford, St.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the Panopto & Prezi Description : For this installment, I used a software/service called Panopto to create the recording and you'll be seeing the video in the Panopto viewer. Panopto will enable a recording to be created that captures webcam (or camcorder video), voice, ppt, and screen actions (if you'd like to know more please let me know) . For the content, I focused on Prezi.

[Update, Nov 2011: The Postdoc position had been *filled*. Still considering PhD candidates, now for two different funded projects in social media!]   In the words of Kramer: Who wants to have some FUN ?   I am looking for a PostDoc, and a PhD student, to join our social media research efforts to work on newly funded projects. Details are below.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) This installment in the A Brief Overview of VoiceThread . Overview : VoiceThread is a great tool for adding text, voice, or web-cam comments on image files, video files, pdfs, PowerPoint files, and more. You or your students can create an account, upload media, and then invite others to make comments.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only)   This installment in the <5min Video "series" is on: Creating a Video on YouTube and Adding it to your Course Shell. Overview : The YouTube "Record from Webcam" tool is a very simple way to get webcam video up and available quickly. This tool can be easily used to record introductory videos , videos describing the how or why of a project, videos to review themes, content areas or other topics, or even to have students record introductory videos.

This letter was finished and sent to the Daily Targum a bit too late to be considered for any issue before Monday, so here it is now.   In reading, watching, and listening to the reactions to the tragedy of  Tyler Clementi's suicide  by many in the university community, I was surprised to see how many people were resistant to or ignorant to the idea of safe spaces.  A letter to the editor published in yesterday's Daily Targum by Mr. Chang insinuated that my desire to live, work, and study in a safe space is a privilege, a privilege that should not be extended to me without a fight. &

It's no secret that (like a lot of people at SCI) I have a real love for libraries, to the extent that I've been accused of appearing teary eyed when waxing rhapsodic about libraries as sites that enable and encourage intellectual curiosity.  So when I read a recent New York Times article about libraries being outsourced, I'll admit I was a bit piqued, to say the least.  But rather than launching into an extended rant, I thought I'd (try to) take a slightly more measured approach by analyzing some of the tropes at work here. Within the recession-related media hype, there has been a special strand of articles on libraries, including descriptions of people using them to find jobs , gain skills and ditch their netflix accounts . But this is the first one I remember seeing about outsourcing.  Basically, a company called LSSI has been hired to take over management for libraries in Santa Clarita, California.  This is in addition to their work on libraries in Oregon, Tennessee and Texas.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) Overview : The main question I receive after sending out an installment in the <5min video series is  - How do you do make the video? So, to answer the question, this week I'm doing a review of Jing and Screencast.com which are the main tools that I use to record short screen-based video.

When I was getting my MLIS, I was actively involved in the student chapter of SLA, it was a great way to find out about library work in different settings and definitely helped me get a better understanding of the kind of place where I wanted to work, as well as the kinds of classes I should be taking.  The New York chapter of SLA is hosting an event next weekend, details below.   The New York Chapter of SLA is hosting a FREE event open to current and potential library school students , and we’d love to see you there!   The Student Swing will include a social hour, a panel discussion featuring students from library students around the NYC metro area, and a tour of the Poet’s House.

It's late notice, I know, but I only just found out about this event and wanted to post it.  If you're not doing anything in the next 24 hours and want to help save a library, see below.  I went to a read-in earlier this summer in support of the Brooklyn and Queens public libraries and it was really fun.  Oh and welcome back, SCI! HELP SAVE THE NEWARK PUBLIC LIBRARY 24-HOUR READ-IN Noon-to-Noon (Tuesday, Aug. 31-Wednesday, Sept. 1) City Hall Steps 920 Broad Street, Newark, NJ 1. Bring a book to read aloud! 2. Join the campaign to restore devastating budget cuts!

I remember a few years back, sitting on my couch, watching a medical student nearly win the New York City Marathon. And I thought to myself, "I want to do that. I want to get an advanced degree and train for a marathon at the same time." So I'm doing it, sort of.

Subscribe to this blog (headlines only) Overview : Displaying a Web Page in your Course Shell is a great way to keep students in the course environment while still allowing them to view needed resources.

  After 16 years as a tenure-track and tenured faculty member, I am just a few days away from beginning my first ever sabbatical this fall. This is longer than typical, but at The University of Texas there was no sabbatical system, and the timing has not allowed a sabbatical here at Rutgers until now. As most of you know, academic sabbatical leave is a wonderful benefit of working at many top universities—providing faculty members with an opportunity to undertake a major project and to renew oneself for more energized academic work to follow.

  After 132 applications, several deadlines, multiple rounds of review, recruitment events, applicant decisions, negotiations and other activities, we finally have a clear picture of our incoming doctoral class for the fall.   And, what a class it is! With 27 students, this is the largest incoming class in several years.

It is a revelation that will probably surprise no one, but ever since I was a kid, I have equated summer with reading.   And rather than the institutionalized guidance of a syllabus, the pleasure of summer reading has always been tied to its unabated liberation, where you get to read whatever you want, all day, preferably in a hammock or at the beach or by the pool.   To cope with this kind of unfamiliar freedom, I can remember a lot of summers where I organized my reading around a theme – there was the summer I read all (56!) Nancy Drew books, the summer I read only mysteries, the summer I read only biographies, the summer I read only Carl Jung, the summer I read only books about poisonous plants. &

  This past Friday, I had the opportunity to be a parent helper for my son Parker’s 4 th grade class fieldtrip to Ellis Island. Despite the lead school bus driver missing a turn and entering the northbound New Jersey turnpike during morning rush hour, a handful of kids who seemed incapable of sticking close to their adult chaperone, and a tight schedule to see everything at the park, we still learned a great deal and had an enjoyable day. It was satisfying to see Parker and the other kids react to the exhibits, marvel at some of the artifacts of the period when Ellis Island was most active, and search the American Immigrant Wall of Honor for names of potential ancestors. &

  This past weekend I joined a number of doctoral students, faculty colleagues, and our families as we celebrated the recent tenure announcements of two members in our school.   Jennifer Gibbs and Deepa Kumar did exactly what they should have done following their successful tenure decisions: they threw a party! I can say from personal experience that one of most gratifying moments in an academic career is the confirmation by one’s tenured faculty that you are a scholar who has met the high standards set by a demanding group of external reviewers, departmental colleagues, and university administrators. &

  Memorial Day marks many things for us.   Most importantly, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died in military service (and is an opportunity to decorate graves and remember other loves ones who have passed).

  Sometimes it can be hard to keep a sense of humor about things. I felt that way yesterday as I tried desperately to make our DVR work correctly with only 24 hours before the series finale of “24” Monday night. Luckily I was able to resolve the problem before my son called my dad to tell him we needed his help (something he has done multiple times in his young life as various home/yard problems have surfaced—always to the amusement of my parents).

  Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of attending the school’s commencement ceremony at the Rutgers Athletic Center. A large crowd witnessed a record number of graduates receive their various degrees. Among those in attendance were 13 doctoral students who fulfilled their requirements this past year.

  This past week we as a school took time to celebrate an amazing year as we honored individuals for teaching, research, service, and other accomplishments in each of our departments and graduate programs.   For the Ph.D. program, multiple fellowships and awards won by our students were listed in the Honors Day program.   We also highlighted the 80+ publications (published, in press, or submitted for publication) and 200+ conference papers (presented or accepted for presentation) with our doctoral students as authors.

  This week we are preparing for Honors Day here in our school, which provides a chance to celebrate some of the excellence in our program (and in others) as seen through individual accomplishments and contributions.   But in preparing for this event, and in doing our annual review of the program, I couldn’t help but notice the incredible interdisciplinarity in our program.   As a way to celebrate our interdisciplinary nature, let me share with you two observations about this from those annual reviews. &

  When we decided to invite some program alums back this year, we did so mainly because we thought it was a good idea to build better relations with this group—and we thought they could provide some useful role models for current students.   I hoped as our alumni event began that we would find the event informative and enjoyable.   What I hadn’t expected was to be inspired by three program alums who represent real success stories—and who give our program and the people in it credit for helping launch their careers. &

  This past weekend, for the first time in the 18-year history of the Colorado Rockies (the Major League baseball team I faithfully support), a pitcher hurled a no-hitter. Ubaldo Jimenez’s accomplishment was not only the first for the Rockies ever, but the first this season in the Majors. No, it wasn’t a perfect game (he walked several batter), but he did not allow a single Atlanta hit. &

The students in our Principles of Searching class are studying the effective presentation of search results this week, as they prepare their final term reports for their clients. So it was timely that one of my favorite info pros (Mary Ellen Bates, via her Librarian of Fortune blog) reminded me that we should strive to provide insight, not just information, and that Colorado is home to some of the best independent researchers around. &

  When I asked the significance of the numbers 15, 16, 17, and 18 at our Friday Colloquium last week, the guesses ranged widely: winning lotto numbers? As a non-player, I didn’t know (if they were, I should start playing). My placing in the March Madness basketball pool?

  WILLIAM SHERMAN (University of York) RENAISSANCE PARATEXTS “The Beginning of ‘The End’: Terminal Paratext and the Birth of Print Culture” Thursday, 19 November 5 p.m.

  There’s nothing like a major holiday for providing an excuse to overeat, take a break from work, and to (re)connect with one’s family (and I did all those this past Easter weekend). But, these holidays also provide a time for some reflection—to remember how others have sacrificed for us and to consider how fortunate we are in the grand scheme. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, the Easter and Passover season are especially appropriate times to be grateful for the past and optimistic about the future. &

There's a great deal of buzz about Apple's iPad, introduced to the U.S. market yesterday, Saturday, April 3, 2010. The device in many ways represents the best example of a convergent media device yet, and shows particular market promise as a digital entertainment, portable e-reader, with a fascinating user interface.   But, it's worth considering more than than the media and business implications of the iPad, or other e-readers.  Take a look at this opinion chart (by DANIEL GOLEMAN and GREGORY NORRIS) from the April 4, 2010 issue of the New York Times, examining the environmental and political context of e-readers, such as the iPad.

I listened to a webinar with Karen Coyle  this afternoon, and thought her analysis of metadata and cataloging was a very timely, practical, lucid discussion of technology and libraries.  Perhaps predictably, the first question from the (presumably mostly librarian) audience was "but if we convert from text to data, will we still be able to use MARC?"  I understand and am sympathetic to data conversion problems.  In fact, most of my day as a part-time librarian is spent managing and running various data clean-up projects that stem almost entirely from a number of data conversions - the word Sisyphean comes to mind.  Nevertheless, I can't help asking why anyone, if given the choice, would want to stick to a 50 year-old cataloging system, especially when web 2.0 technologies are staring us in the face, full of potential resources and maybe even solutions.  But rather than picking a fight about the future of cataloging practices, I mostly want to use this post to point you to a OCLC initiative on data mining that Coyle mentioned, with which I've been playing ever since.  When librarians talk about possibilities for integrating user-generated metadata with traditional catalogs, it sometimes results in a kind of gaping blankness about what that might enable or look like.  Well, this is what integrating UGM and traditional catalogs through data mining could enable or look like!  (Or this , for proponents of the democratization of media .) And while we're at it, why not integrate Twitter feeds?  Related Meetup groups? Librarything or Bookmooch plug ins?  If this seems hypocritical from someone who has recused herself from (most) social media sites, let me explain.  My lack of enthusiasm for social media sites stems from a skepticism about changing practices of language and human relationships, where I see something of a sacrifice in the redefinition of social behavior as something that not-that-long-ago would have been called anti-social behavior. My enthusiasm for UGM and actively pro-technology librarianship stems from a belief that it can radically alter practices of scholarship without sacrificing the things that make research (or even reading) a fulfilling process with deep social value.

  I suspect at least a few of you wondered what happened to me when I failed to blog this past Monday.   In short, when I went to make that Monday blog entry I discovered my deck had been compromised and most channels of communication were no longer under the control of the Ph.D. program office.   Yes, someone was foolishly trying to take over the SC&I doctoral program. &

  It was 21 years ago during spring break week that I left my campus (Regis College in Denver) and ventured to Arizona to check out the graduate program at Arizona State (on my way to another school visit at San Diego State).   As a prospective graduate student, it was wonderful to see campuses and meet with faculty.   And, of course, the trip was filled with a fair amount of fun as some friends in Phoenix accompanied me to San Diego and eventually down to Ensenada, Mexico for a weekend of living on guacamole and cerveza. &

  As we approach St. Patrick’s Day this week (the one day each year where suddenly almost everyone claims to be Irish), I’m sure seeing more green around than usual. Indeed, we associate green with lucky four-leaf clovers and other symbols of good fortune (and even the Fighting Irish fared well as the March Madness basketball brackets were announced yesterday). &

  This past Friday was, frankly, a pretty fine day for the Ph.D. program here in our school.   Thanks to weeks of preparation we were able to honor the past, present, and future of our program in a single day.   We held our annual Ph.D. Recruitment Day and hosted 20 doctoral recruits who may very well be an important part of our future. &

  Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} You know when you work out so hard that your body is sore the next day—it feels good. After your mind works hard all day from doing something INtellectual, it feels the same way! I really enjoyed our INterdisciplinary 601 and 602 marathons every week, social INteractions after each colloquium, taking the stress of the week out with our INstitutional Friday Basketball, and INtriguing brown bag research talks.

  I had intended to blog this week about a special colloquium we were supposed to have held this past Friday related to Human Subjects Research. But that event was postponed because of the latest big storm to dump even more flakes in what has become the snowiest month ever here in New Brunswick (thank goodness we don’t usually get 3 feet of snow in a month here!). For my kids, it was cheers of “Snow Day!” as they were out of school for two days last week. For most students at Rutgers, getting a Snow Day on a Friday when there are almost no classes anyway was likely less exciting, but still not unwelcome.

  As several readers certainly know, this past Friday was the deadline for submitting work for consideration at the 2010 National Communication Association Conference in San Francisco.   The conference theme is Building Bridges, so one of the panel submissions I made was titled “Building Bridges with Communication Technologies: Innovations in Group Collaboration” (in case one is curious, the panel will attempt to examine collaborations that bridge time and space—as well as bridge the theory-practice and academy-industry divides by including both faculty scholars and corporate practitioners/researchers on the same panel). Though on the whole I don’t believe that conference themes matter a great deal, I found this one a bit more relevant than most (not to mention rather clever given the conference location near the bay area’s great bridges). &

  Most people who know me personally would agree I am a sports fan.   I watch NFL football every Sunday during the fall (and watched the complete Super Bowl this year). I go to several NFL, MLB, and college sporting events each year. &

  Last night, New Orleans won the Super Bowl.   Although they were about 5-point underdogs and the odds of them winning the big game were only 20-1 at the start of the season, the odds could have been much worse. For example, your odds of winning “the big game,” aka the Powerball Lottery, are something like 195 million to 1.   Your odds of winning an Olympic medal are about 662,000 to 1.   In other words, you have a better chance of being struck by lightning (only 576,000 to 1). &

Congratulations to Prof. Joe Sanchez and PhD students Jessica Lingel, Nathan Graham, and Aaron Trammel who won the best poster award at the i-Schools conference held this week in Champaign-Urbana. The poster "The Jersey Punk Basement Scene: Exploring the Information Underground" presented elements of the Social Informatics/Information Seeking research the team has in progress.

Radical Reference hosted a salon   in January on issues of social justice as it pertains to the  (proposed?  contentious?  uneasy?)  shift from AACR2 to RDA - if it's an issue that interests you, check out the  notes from the discussion. Although I still work part-time as a librarian, I sometimes get so caught up in academic research , ideas and debates that I lose track of some of the really critical issues in the field. I won't get into my personal thoughts on the  proposed cataloging transition here, other than to state that I think FRBR * (which is at the heart of RDA) has the potential to extend LIS concepts outside libraries and archives.

  As I finished up a book chapter and a Communication Yearbook submission in recent days, created writing assignments for students I am teaching in class this semester, and read written work from doctoral and faculty job applicants, I was reminded about the all-important task of writing in the life of the academic.   You can have great ideas and be a fine researcher, but if you can’t communicate that in written form, few will ever know your work. If you can’t write reasonably well, you are unlikely to earn good grades and convince others about all you know.

In recent hard economic times organizations have lost workers and the knowledge that they hold. Workplaces have seen the knowledge held by employees walk out the door due to layoffs, failed businesses, retirements, and usual employee attrition. When one considers how much people learn on the job through their everyday experience as well as through training and education programs, this knowledge loss is a serious issue.

PhD Candidate Bibi Alajmi will discuss her proposed research on the intention to share knowledge and social networks on Friday, January 29, 1:30 PM in room # 323 in the main SC&I building. The proposal describes interdisciplinary research built on theories from social psychology.

If you're curious about the basics of the so-called "new media" - but feel intimidated by the idea of cutting video or designing a website - I suggest stopping by Room 119 at 12:50 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 5. My aim is to show how mobile journalism has become the most common and easiest way for writers to get on the web. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} I've set up a workshop for learning the basics of mobile journalism (and I'm talking basics - such as how to get a cell phone video uploaded to a news site). I'm making this available to all students, but it would be particularly useful for new students who need to know more about what's expected of reporters these days (especially when they're being recruited to work for hyperlocal sites such as patch.com).

  When I began as Program Director 1 ½ years ago, one of the first things I determined was that I needed some additional administrative assistance to help me carry out some of my plans for the program.   That need ultimately led to the hiring of Kate Magsamen-Conrad, one of our doctoral students, to be my administrative assistant.   It was one of the best decisions I’ve made in this role—and it is why I am going to really miss Kate as she steps down from this position (and into a much better role on Kathryn Greene’s NIH-funded health communication grant). &

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Several recommendations for higher education in New Jersey were included in a series of reports released Friday, January 22, by Governor Christie. The higher education recommendations can be found in two separate reports drafted by the new Governor’s Transition New Jersey subcommittees: Education (Pages 18-25) Economic Development (Pages 17-20) At this point in time, these are only recommendations submitted to the new Governor for his consideration.

  This holiday weekend was filled with several firsts. Of course, today is the first MLK Day with an African-American President sitting in office. Yesterday the local pro football J-E-T-S won behind a first-year coach and rookie quarterback to reach their first AFC title game together.

I am often accused ( with varying degrees of seriousness and justifi cation) of being a luddite.  You won't find me on MySpace, Facebook, Flickr or Twitter , I religiously print out papers rather than reading them onscreen, and (perhaps most egregiously, certainly most alienatingly) I've been known to rail against a plethora of much-loved new media devices and services, from iPhones to Netflix (although the point of this post isn't to defend those stances, I can't help referencing a recent NY Times article that points to some disturbing things about teens and technology use).  But being wary (some might say curmudgeonly) about issues of privacy, monitoring and language in terms of computer mediated communication and social media is a far cry from being categorically cynical about technology. In fact, a s a librarian, and a digital media librarian to boot, I have something of a professional obligation to be (cautiously) optimistic about technology.  Partly to refute accusations of being anti-technology, partly in the spirit of new year's resolutions that might pertain to organization (an issue perennially close to a librarian's heart) I thought I'd list some of the sites I use for personal information management.  Seeing the number of sites I've tagged on delicious surprised me - I'm close to 700 and I probably would have guessed about half that.  Having worked in cataloging departments, one reason I love delicious is that there are only tags and clouds - no pesky MARC fields or restrictive authority controls.  Finally, cataloging freedom!  Of course, these are precisely the problems presented by delicious in terms of leveraging user-generated metadata of tags on a macro level.  For a micro-level, though, I think delicious is profoundly useful and I use it for everything from recipes to lit reviews.  Do you BookMooch ?  Although parting with books is not something that I do often or lightly, I love BookMooch.  And since it's a site that gets more useful the more people are on it, I encourage you to set up a site, cull some books from your collection and set up some trades.  It's also a great way to support libraries and charities .

  Although our application deadline for getting IN to the graduate program looms less than a week away, I’ve been thinking this past weekend about the other end of the graduate school cycle: getting fINished. For most graduate students, that completion period is not just about writing a dissertation, it is about gaining employment in a top tier university or with some other type of organization. Key to securing those jobs is getting INterviewed. &

Happy New Year, and Happy New Decade!   The past weeks have been filled with a number of reflections on the previous year and past ten years—but it has also provided occasion to look forward to what the next 12 months and coming decade will bring.   So, I want to use this as an excuse to offer some thoughts about where I think the program will be (and in some cases, where I think it ought to be) in 10 years.

I had the strangest vision as I was working on some Ph.D. program issues and thinking about Christmas. I thought I'd share it with you as a way to wish you all a wonderful holiday season: Twas the night before Graduation, when all through Huntington House, Not a computer was whirring, not even a wireless mouse. The diploma frames were hung by the plasma screen with care, In hopes that Ph.D. degrees soon would be there.

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} I must confess I've never heard of vitching.  Kvetching, yes.  Vitching, no. Apparently it's a way to pitch the media using video.  It all makes sense if the people receiving the vitch have the time and inclination to view it.  I have my doubts.  But then again, I still believe in "double pitching," that's my term for sending an e-mail pitch and a snail-mail pitch simultaneously.  Nonetheless, as students of media relations, we need to be up on the lastest techniques. To access the complete article, click on the title.

Are you tired of Tiger Woods stories?  You shouldn't be if you're a communication pro or wannabe.  This is a case study in the making.  I'm sure it will be featured in at least a half dozen textbooks next year.  I have collected many articles about what Woods should do to protect, resurrect and even imporve his reputation (write me and I''ll forward them.) This one is unique because it says Woods is doing what's right PR wise.  Something none of the others have said.  I guess when you get ten PR people in a room you get eleven opinions.   Click the title to access the complete article.   Maybe Tiger Woods Knows Exactly What He’s Doing Tiger's screwing this all up, the thinking goes.

Unfortunately, the advent of social networking makes it easy for any disgruntled customer or employee to malign a company whether they have a legitimate gripe or not.  Near as I can tell, this is a form of blackmail against which one has no protection. One of the tips offered in crisis management is to monitor competitors and other organizations and to learn from their successes and mistakes.  It pays to see what others facing such negativity on the net are doing.   Click on the title to access the complete article. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} How Not to Create a Crisis:  by Shabbir Safdar, founder of Virilion.

I knew there were 50 ways to leave your lover.  I even knew there were 50 ways to love your leaver, but I had no idea there were 50 ways to analyze your Tweeter.  Matter of fact, there must be more than 50 because this article only covers the top 50.  There are over 900 comments about the 50 analytical tools.  Now you need to ask yourself, "what's at stake if I don't Tweet effectively." Click on the title to access the complete article.C /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;}   Top 50 Twitter Tracking and Analytics Tools "With over 70 Million users on Twitter, it is definitely the “buzz” word of the year. Yet there are people who do not know about tracking and analyzing their stats, influence and success on Twitter. Today there are many social media tracking and analytics tools available that can track your performance on social media sites like twitter.

In discussing newsletters, we mention that newsletters can target various stakeholders including employees, management, investors, the community and legislators.  This article discusses newsletters to customers and the role they can play in the communication strategy of an organization.    Click the title to access the complete article.   The Power of Newsletters December 14th, 2009 (7:00am) Amber Riviere "They might seem a little old-fashioned, but newsletters can be a great way to stay in touch with customers and prospects, and increase revenue to your business. &

  It is December 14.   As my wife will confirm, it isn’t until about this time each year that I even begin buying gifts for loved ones.   But, I have been thinking about gifts—will Santa show some restraint with the number of gifts for our kids?

Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} The current Tiger Woods media attention brings to mind the importance of crisis management.  This article is a summary of what should be done if the "fit hits the sham."    This list would not have helped Woods, but if you're handling PR for a company and the crisis is not of its doing, this is a comprehensive list of what to do.  The only thing missing from is the recommendation to plan.  Start with the vulnerabilities (what could happen) then plan out scenarios for each.   Click on the title to access the complete article. 5 Tips To Help Small Business Handle Crisis PR google_protectAndRun("ads_core.google_render_ad", google_handleError, google_render_ad); Submitted by Staff on December 9, 2009 - 3:34pm.

One of the most difficult parts of working in marketing communication (marcomm) is identifying our contribution to the bottom line. The article mentions the classic means of measuring marcomm effectiveness, but touts the real measure as being market research (yea!!) The author is right. Press pickups mean nothing if no one reads them or they don't create the desired impression.  Market research measures changes in awarenesses, perceptions and attitudes that were prompted by marcomm.  It's the only true measure.

What are you doing during spring break?  If you'll be looking for a job come May, here is a list of things to consider doing while enjoying your time off.  These tips are well thought out.  You don't have to tackle all 20, but if you want a leg up on the competition and you don't have $8,000 to spend on an unpaid internship, this is how to do it.  Click on the title to read the entire article. 20 Ways PR Students Can Beat The Winter Break Blues Posted On 12.07.09 With the semester’s end approaching, many PR students will take the next few weeks to regenerate before Spring Semester.

 This is a story that combines Crisis Management and Social Networking.  What if a respected organization were to include your name among dangerous criminals.  How would you react?  Respond?  Keep silent?  Zhu Zhu (ZZ) is apperenly this year's hottest toy item.  Along comes Good Guide and claims the toy contains an unhealthy amount of Antimony.  Well, the manufacturer of ZZ has issued a press release (you can read it here) claiming that the toy is absolutely safe. Now ask yourself: "Does Tiger Woods response" ring a bell here?"  I would respond with a more conciliatory tone and provide actual documentation as well as invite Good Guide to observe independent testing. Let's keep an eye on this great case history. &

  As we rapidly approach the Jan. 15 application deadline for our doctoral program, I get a variety of questions from prospective students.   Most are quite good, though some suggest a student isn’t considering us for the right reasons at all (e.g., “how quickly can I get done?”) and others suggest the student has no clue what we do (e.g., “Can I study both classical rhetoric and the history of radio here?”). However, the one category of questions that seems to emerge more than any other relates to the GRE (Do I really have to take it?

  This is an interesting article by a PR myopic, i.e. one who understands PR, but doesn't understand how it works in the marketing mix. You can surmise his position from the title.  He gives various reasons for his opinion, but also shows his lack of understanding of branding and therefore arrives at a faulty conclusion.  His premise is that branding is the ultimate goal.  No...sales is the ultimate goal.  I recognize Starbucks as a brand, but McCafe has done a very convincing   job of getting me to try its coffee by way of advertising.  Latte, schmatte, I'm not spending $3.50 on a cup of coffee.   Advertising and PR work best in tandem, together synergistically creating awareness and perception about a product.  Without advertising, there is no PR because there are no media.  Although a PR story carries the weight of credibility, it's a one trick pony.  Once it appears, it stops being news.  Advertising can repeat the message ad nauseum.  That's how we remember things, that's what gets us to try products.    Click on the title to read the entire article. &

 "What journalists do you know?" is a common question asked when interviewing prospective PR agents.  The premise is that the more highly regarded jounalists the PR person knows, the more likely the journalists are to accept a pitch from that agent.  A while ago a PR agency introduced a service called Help A Reporter Out (HARO.) With HARO, jounalists post what topics they are researching and what information they are seeking.  If a company has expertise in that area, or can offer the needed information, Bingo! we have a match.  Enter "Pitch with Me" which offers another solution for PR to journalist interaction where several organizations join together to help out a reporter.  Click on the title and access the complete press release, then sign up and be a player. &

Public Information on PR & Comm.: Learing Interviewing Skills by Osmosis If you're not yet looking for a job, you soon will.  This site is a must for you as it enables you to become a fly on the wall during an interview for a PR position.  The interviewee's performance is then evaluated.  Worth signing up for (ending sentence in a preposition is a no-no.) Learning from someone else's mistakes is musch easier than making them yourself.

If you're not yet looking for a job, you soon will.  This site is a must for you as it enables you to become a fly on the wall during an interview for a PR position.  The interviewee's performance is then evaluated.  Worth signing up for (ending sentence in a preposition is a no-no.) Learning from someone else's mistakes is musch easier than making them yourself.

Some people actually hire PR people for managing crises.  Tiger Woods is one guy we never thought would need one.  Fraser Sietel is a respected PR advisor (from NJ, btw) and he gives Tiger (did you know his real name is Eldrick?) some solid advice.  Nothing new, but worth repeating because so few people learn from the mistakes of others.   'Click on the title to access the complete article. 5 Critical P.R.

It's tough enough to write a blog, but getting people to read it is just as tough.  Enter Twitter as a tool to drive traffic to the blog.  Great! Now comes the news that we not only need to blog and Tweet, we learn that specific words are better for Retweeting.  This article reveals the results of a study on which words and kinds of words generate the most activity.  You might want to print this out.   Click on the title to access the complete article.

  Impact is one of those funny words whose meanings connote very different images. When cars impact or teeth get impacted, that’s usually a bad thing.   But, if we talk about impact as an influence or force exerted by some new innovation, that’s usually a good thing.

 Some say there's never a bad time or a bad reason to send out a news release.  Sort of "fling it and see if it sticks (or someone catches it.)  Journalists today are getting more and more releases as the space or time they're alloted decreases.  Sometimes "all the news that's fit to print," may not be.  If you're asked to write a press release, become an investigative reporter.  Dig it out.  It's there somewhere.  Article may give you a hint as to where to look. btw, this is the first of two articles on the subject.  Both are available at the site.  Click on the title to access the complete article. &

If the Edelman name doesn't ring a bell just yet, it will when you hit the pavement looking for a job in PR.  Look 'em up.  This article is an interview with one of their recruitment managers who reveals how she evaluates candidates.  Admitedely, this article is written for those who've already cracked the basement ceiling (have experience) there's something here for everyone who's looking for a job in this inductry.  Note here first point: resumes do not have to be one page.   Click the title to access the complete article. Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} How to Get Hired at Edelman So you want to work at Edelman ?

  As we approach the Thanksgiving holiday here, I am reminded how much giving of thanks I need to do. Beyond how thankful I am for my family and my health and all with which I have been blessed, let me mention a few things I am thankful for related to our doctoral program here.   I am grateful for key people… like the program’s Executive Committee . &

Michael Gavin (English, Rutgers University) Writing Print Cultures Past: How the History of Literary Criticism Can Contribute to the History of the Book Thursday, 3 December  5 p.m. Plangere Annex, Murray Hall 510 George Street, New Brunswick In recent years, book historians have focused on the late seventeenth century as a period of crucial transformation in authorship and reading practices in England. Such studies often turn to paratextual matter like prefaces and dedications for their strongest evidence about how authors, patrons, publishers, and readers negotiated their roles in the changing literary marketplace.

 We all know the world's oldest profession.  Suffice it to say parctitioners of that profession know a thing or two about love.  Wonder what the world's second oldest profession?  It's the military.  And they know a thing or two about war.  Seems they now know a thing or two about PR and social networking.  The U.S. Army has enlisted bloggers to tell followers what Army life is really like.  If there ever was an industry that suffers from negative PR it's the military (not the soldiers.)  I'm uncertain whether the effort will deliver the desired results. All it takes is a handful of disgruntled GIs, even a small minority, and the whole thing goes down in flames (pardon the metaphore.)  We'll be watching. &

Of all the ways to pitch a story to a reporter, none is as straightforward "Help a Reporter Out" (HARO.)  This free service enables journalists to send out feelers for input they might need for a story they're preparing.  Instead of going begging, with HARO, you can be a hero to the client as well as the reporter.  I get two e-mail request updates everyday.  I review them to see if I can help by finding topics for which my clients could provide expertise or a quote.  This article is about the do's and don't of working with HARO.  Many of the rules apply generally to dealing with reporters, but they're worth reviewing anyway.  To see what HARO is about click here .    Click on the title to access the complete articel.   Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} How to pitch reporters on "Help a Reporter Out” By Jessica Levco jessical@ragt of dos and don’ts for PR pros contacting journalists on Peter Shankman’s free service "Forget the days when journalists called you for stories and waited for you to call them back. "Thanks to Help a Reporter Out (HARO), journalists now have the resources they need at their fingertips.