The Sound of the UAE

I have been teaching a practicum course at Zayed University in Dubai called Zayed Media Lab since 2003. This course has changed a lot since we first started it, but it has always stayed very true to the core idea of combining what has been learned in the curriculum of the communication college to real world [...]

Understanding Media Consumption.

We have a problem in the marketing and education world. The problem is that we, the creators of content and delivery systems, are not paying enough attention to how people or which people are using media and how. All too often we are relying on old data or how we are using media. But if [...]

Do rules on using social media defeat the purpose?

There is a constant struggle between taking place when it comes to defining the boundaries between personal, public, private, business and educational engagement with social media. The problem is we are constantly being asked to negotiate different persona’s. The parent who is a teacher. The banker who is a parent. The singer who is professionally [...]

Learn about Media by Doing?

Media Literacy is a term that we have been hearing for well over 20 years. And of course there are groups and organizations in Canada, the USA and Australia who are doing some amazing work. The question I am always left asking is how do we engage the youth the primary targets of media literacy? [...]

Media “focus on entertainment over news” is this a bad thing?

Entertainment vs news is there really an us versus them situation in front of us? Is it really that bad if news begins to take on a more entertaining stance? Isn’t the real issue whether the message is getting through? The Swiss have found that what is being covered in their constituency is entertainment and [...]

Why Mobile Media is a Must.

Mobile media needs to be what we are teaching out communication grads today. I know in my Zayed Media Lab course I mix mobile, laptop and Web2.0 tools for no better reason than we live in a mobile saturated environment. Students get it, sort of. The problem is mixed messages about what is professional media [...]

The Power of the Message.

How we say things is as important as what we say. I think we often forget how practical messages can be amplified through the use of video and YouTube. Language is not an issue and the message is loud and clear.

Media/Information/Comm Literacy We Need More!

Never before in the history of communication and social development have mediated messages and the means of distributing these messages had such a disruptive role on the development of youth. Of course disruption can be a good thing and can provoke innovation in practice and thought. But disruption can also be a challenge. I sit [...]

Tech Forward?

One of the greatest challenges faced by old media today is how to translate online/electronic/web offerings into something that is not a simple electronic translation of the often paper of analog intended product. No surprise the journalists, content creators, are not the people to look to. And designers might also be caught in the hype [...]

The Digital Future

Are you reading what is being written about the digital future? The Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School is pleased to present the results of the tenth year of our project, “Surveying the Digital Future.” The ten years of longitudinal research comprise an absolutely unique data base that completely captures broadband [...]

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