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During my teaching at EIU, I have [attempted] to get students interested in research, a task far easier said than done at times. However, they seemed particularly pumped when I introduced the freepress.net.

If you are new to freepress, it is a free website that takes on issues with media, ownership, censoring, net neutrality, and lots of other issues that may be buried in the news (if mentioned at all). Most of the issues on the website were completely new to my students, and they seemed very excited about learning things that actually applied to them ("Disney owns ESPN? No way!").

I was shocked that so many of the topics were new to them, and I must admit I was a little shaken by it. Regardless of whether you side with the corporation or the activist, it is important to know the issues and the sides that are arguing for things that will not only be put into action at the present but could also affect you a great deal. So, as far as my students go, if freepress.net is the way to get them excited about research, I consider it a double win!

Now if they would just get an RSS feed...

freepress.net

Virtual Wake

In the Communication Studies field, many influential and innovative scholars are celebrated as sickness, accidents, or life take them from what they have dedicated their lives to. The most recent was Mr. H.L. Goodall, or Bud to his friends and colleagues. I have been following the huge outpour of writings, memories, and responses that have been exploding from the academic community and I find it extremely fascinating how perfect each account of Bud's life is, regardless of whom does the recounting.

Something in this particular post also struck me as fascinating, the way the author discussed the "virtual wake" that was part of Bud's sendoff. Even those who are not very familiar with Mr. Goodall's work can read these moments that he shared with others and feel connected to his academic work and at times his personal stories. If you are one who is quite unfamiliar, I really encourage you to keep up with those scholars in your field that have laid the bricks, broken the barriers, and changed parts of academia for those of us following.

http://www.hlgoodall.com/blog.html