Specific strategies for sharpening our critical and empathetic listening skills. Active Listening Overview Active listening refers to the process of pairing outwardly visible positive listening behaviors with positive cognitive listening practices. Active listening can help address many of the environmental, physical, cognitive, and personal barriers to effective listening. The behaviors associated with active listening can[…]
How environmental, physical, cognitive, and personal factors, and bad listening practices, present barriers to effective listening. Introduction Barriers to effective listening are present at every stage of the listening process. At the receiving stage, noise can block or distort incoming stimuli. At the interpreting stage, complex or abstract information may be difficult to relate to[…]
How to analyze situations and draw informed conclusions for accurate judgments about people, situations, and media you encounter. First Impressions Imagine the first day of class in first year composition at your university. The moment your professor walked in the room, you likely began analyzing her and making assumptions about what kind of teacher she[…]
Writing is the most important invention because it makes all the other innovations possible. While researching a 99papers review, I started to think about the craft itself and how it developed. With all living things, every generation is a blank slate. When an elephant or a wolf dies, everything he experienced, all that he learned,[…]
Whenever any society has had common knowledge and a sense of common interests, it has made use of propaganda. The fact that wars give rise to intensive propaganda campaigns has made many persons suppose that propaganda is something new and modern. The word itself came into common use in this country as late as 1914,[…]
Making sure what’s intended is what’s heard can be more difficult than it seems. Melvin Gaal (mindsharing.eu) A lot of problems are caused by an incorrect or incomplete understanding of terms we use regularly. By Peter Ellerton / 08.25.2012 Lecturer in Critical Thinking The University of Queensland As scientists, one of our responsibilities should be[…]
Creative Commons At the intersection of applied linguistics and journalism studies lies media linguistics. By Dr. Tom Van Hout (left) and Dr. Peter Burger (right) Hout: Lecturer in Journalism and New Media Burger: Lecturer in Journalism and New Media Leiden University Abstract At the intersection of applied linguistics and journalism studies lies media linguistics.[…]
Recasting studies of communication in terms of a ritual model. By Dr. James W. Carey Communication Theorist, Former Professor of Journalism Columbia University I When I decided some years ago to read seriously the literature of communications, a wise man suggested I begin with John Dewey. It was advice I have never regretted accepting. Although there are[…]
Look at us! / Photo by Lewis Minor, Flickr, Creative Commons People have long used media to see reflections of themselves. By Dr. Lee Humphreys / 09.21.2018 Associate Professor in Communication Cornell University Narcissism is defined as excessive self-love or self-centredness. In Greek mythology, Narcissus fell in love when he saw his reflection in water:[…]
Men working at a printing press, proofing copy, inking, and setting type. Wood engraving after a woodcut by Stradanus, c.1580 / Wellcome Library, Wikimedia Commons The printing press provided greater access to information for all and set the framework for the gradual transformation of societal literacy. 10.30.2010 The advent of the printing press over five[…]
Cleopatra, being an account of the fall and vengeance of Harmachis, the royal Egyptian, as set forth by his own hand / Wikimedia Commons A glimpse into ancient communication activities and how communication was used by the world’s last pharaoh. By Dr. Shannon A. Bowen / 03.18.2016 Associate Professor of Communications University of South Carolina[…]
Wikimedia Commons Looking at the various forms of propaganda in circulation during the Russian Revolution. By Dr. Katya Rogatchevskaia Lead Curator, East European Collections British Library Is there such a thing as ‘good’ propaganda? Over the 20th century, the word ‘propaganda’ acquired predominantly negative connotations and to many, it is associated with totalitarian regimes. Back in 1928,[…]
Edward Bernays applied the principles of propaganda to marketing. Bruce Henschel/Flickr While no single person can claim exclusive credit for the ascendancy of advertising in American life, no one deserves credit more than a man most of us have never heard of: Edward Bernays. By Dr. Richard Gunderman / 07.09.2015 Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy Indiana[…]
All rhetorical techniques are designed to enhance one of the three pillars of communication: ethos, logos and pathos. Benson Kua We all use rhetorical structures. But, unless we’re skilled in their use, as politicians and advertisers clearly are, we don’t necessarily grasp their full manipulative power. By Dr. Joan Leach / 02.02.2016 Professor and Director, International Programs Australian National[…]
Aristotle s definition of rhetoric in one founding text in the rhetorical tradition. The role of rhetoric was pedagogical, or rather persuasive: to teach, but also always to move—and if need be, to please or delight. By Dr. Matthew Sharpe / 03.05.2016 Associate Professor of Philosophy Deakin University A little case of 1616 repeatin’ Shakespeare’s gravestone and[…]
You heard it say what? Roman Stetsyk/Shutterstock.com Where you come down on the latest internet hullabaloo depends on how your brain fills in gaps in the sounds you hear. By Dr. Jennell Vick / 05.16.2018 Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences Case Western Reserve University As a speech scientist, I never thought I’d see so much excitement on social media[…]
Could these gentlemen be early pioneers of textspeak? Council Flat Holm Project/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY Long before ‘sup’ and ‘hwu’ there was ‘Hw r u ts mng?’ By Dr. Lauren Collister / 09.01.2015 Sociolinguist Director, Office of Scholarly Communication & Publishing University of Pittsburgh From “lol” to “brb,” the internet and text messaging gave rise to a unique[…]
Tricky. South Vietnam’s President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu meeting President Richard Nixon on 2 April 1973. Flickr/AP By Dr. Maria Kasmirli / 04.20.2018 Philosopher and Teacher Imagine you have been asked to review the reference letters provided by the candidates for a lectureship in philosophy. One reads: ‘My former student, Dr Jack Smith, is polite, punctual and[…]
Image Creative Commons By Dr. Jack Lule Joseph B. McFadden Distinguished Professor of Journalism and Communication Lehigh University Introduction Figure 1.1, Getty Images In 1850, an epidemic swept America—but instead of leaving victims sick with fever or flu, this epidemic involved a rabid craze for the music of Swedish soprano Jenny Lind. American showman P. T.[…]
Because you’ve never seen it before, right? Heather By Dr. Sara Peters / 03.08.2018 Assistant Professor of Psychology Newberry College This sentence begins the best article you will ever read. Chances are you thought that last statement might be sarcasm. Sarcasm, as linguist Robert Gibbs noted, includes “words used to express something other than and especially the[…]
Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 03.03.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Communication: History and Forms Introduction Before we dive into the history of communication, it is important that we have a shared understanding of what we mean by the word communication. For our purposes in this book, we will define communication as the process of generating meaning by sending[…]
Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 03.03.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Pop Culture Mania Figure 1.1: Just as fans could purchase Jerry Lind hats, Beatles fans could purchase Beatle wigs. / Paul Townsend – 1960s Beatlemania Fashion In 1850, an epidemic swept America—but instead of leaving victims sick with fever or flu, this epidemic involved a rabid craze[…]
How should you communicate? By Dr. Alexis Elder / 12.03.2017 Assistant Professor of Philosophy University of Minnesota Duluth Suppose you want to get in touch with a friend. Once, your options for doing so might have been sparse: pick up the phone or write a letter. But these days, you have to decide: Should you call or[…]
Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 02.28.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief 1 – Introduction 1.2 – Overview In sociology, social interaction is a dynamic sequence of social actions between individuals (or groups) who modify their actions and reactions due to actions by their interaction partner(s). Social interactions can be differentiated into accidental, repeated, regular and regulated.[…]
New linguistics facility applies scientific tenets to understanding how we communicate. By Jill Radsken / 02.21.2018 Dorothy Ahn stood behind a video camera, recording a fellow researcher reading simple sentences — “One girl is my friend. That girl plays soccer”— while pointing for emphasis. The filming was part of a research experiment comparing speech gestures[…]
Map of the 1858 Atlantic Cable route / Public Domain By Dr. Ana Paula Silva Postdoctoral Researcher Interuniversity Center for the History of Science and Technology (CIUHCT) New University of Lisbon Introduction Most of the existing studies on submarine cables are built from a national point of view, stressing how great powers, namely Great Britain,[…]
In the age of social media, fears and rumors about outbreaks and epidemics can quickly spread out of control. How can health officials help contain the panic? By Mike Ives / 10.28.2016 In the spring of 2014, Vietnam’s state-controlled news media reported that dozens of children had died after turning up at hospitals in the[…]
Nikolaj Lübecker argues for the ethic of “feel-bad” films, movies in which desire for catharsis is built up but ultimately denied in a variety of ways. He draws on directors such as Lars Von Trier, Gus Van Sant, Michael Haneke, and many others. By Roman Friedman PhD Student in Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership (EPOL)[…]
An argument. Photo by Flickr user Dmitris Papazimouris through a Creative Commons license. From The Writing Center University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Arguments are Everywhere Most material you learn in college is or has been debated by someone, somewhere, at some time. Even when the material you read or hear is presented as[…]
Chimpanzees use alarm calls to inform each other of danger. / Ronald Woan, Flickr Nonhuman primates clearly do more than just screech meaningless sounds at each other, but what are the limits of their communication? By Jay Schwartz / 08.25.2017 PhD Candidate in Neuroscience and Animal Behavior Emory University A chimpanzee is strolling along a[…]