Current Events In Human Communication

WE ALWAYS SAY "IT IS PERCEPTION!"

2012-02-12T17:05:00.000-08:00

Six weeks ago, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper had a "Letter of the Day" on page 8 of its Thursday-January 12, 2012 edition.

A Saint Paul reader's letter, regarding the value of a college education, appeared under the headline of "Ask not about a dipoma, but about if you leaned to think."

In it, John Schmit the writer made, what I believe, is a very astute observation. He claimed that people (today) attend colleges and universities for the diplomas they will receive, NOT for the education.

He offered his opinion, regarding the question: "So, where do you go with an English major?" His answer was "Anywhere you want...provided that you learned to write, analyze complex texts, to argue your perspective and to understand the various ways by which meaning becomes available to us."

His concluding remarks were "There are lots of diplomas one can acquire...some valuable, others not. Acquiring an education is quite a different matter!"

I have earned two college degrees. One is a Bachelor of Science, with a major in Speech and minor studies in English, Education and Broadcasting. The other is a Master of Science with emphasis in Speech and Business Communication.

These two degrees have served me well, in being able to enjoy various management positions at major Fortune 500 companies, on-air and advertising sales positions in Boston and New York radio stations, as well as public high school and communty college teaching.

I agree with Mr. Schmit that it is not the, particular, diploma that assists you. Rather, it is the "education" that has been acquired, including the ability to think critically, about your occupational tasks.

-Dan

FACTS, OPINIONS, PERCEPTIONS = Human Communication

2012-02-05T16:07:00.000-08:00

This blog has, previously, considered the issue of human perception’s value to human life.

When I was in high school, I needed to earn 6 credits in a “foreign” language to be considered as eligible for entry into the college of my choice. The courses offered included German, French and Spanish.

Since neither any of my friends, nor I, knew anyone who spoke anything but regular English, I was lost in the decision of which language I should pursue.

Since there were few “facts” to rely upon, we only had our opinions and perceptions to draw from in making such a very important decision.

Many pieces of information that we are required to rely upon, as we move through our lives, are only available to us through our filters of opinion and perception.

Personally, I believe that fewer and fewer facts are being made available to us. This phenomenon may be due to a variety of reasons, including premeditated obfuscation, electronic gatekeeping or out-and-out lying.

In any case, my friends and I decided that Spanish would, probably, be the easiest one for me to take, since I already knew many Spanish words: senor, senorita, haste la vista, adios, etc. So, I enrolled in Spanish class for two terms. Unfortunately, I didn’t take it seriously, but, at least, managed to earn passing grades, which allowed me to move on to my college choice.

I include this, personal, story to underline the fact that we humans rely, to a great extent, upon our opinions and perceptions NOT facts to make decisions, every day of our lives.

There are those, around us, who have an agenda to take advantage of that fact and attempt to influence our thinking and/or actions.

Fortunately, due to the fact that I teach college, where there is a free flow of information, I recently learned, from a student, about a web site that I think is just WONDERFUL!

A visit to http://www.politifact.com/ should prove interesting to anyone who would prefer to make their decisions with facts at hand, rather than half-truths and innuendo. It was created, and is hosted, by the Tampa Bay Times and has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize for its presentations.

I believe that you’ll enjoy this refreshing approach to the screeching obfuscations that we are being subjected to, each day!

- Dan

Should a “Democracy” Reduce an open debate, by those who aspire to its Presidency, to 10-second sound bites?

2012-01-30T16:06:00.000-08:00

How long has the idea of a democratic perspective of society been held dear by humans? In short, the answer to that question is the 6th Century BC. (the 500's).

So-o-o-o, democracies have been evolving for a long, long, time! And, here we are in one of the most robust of modern democratic governments, at the crossroads of many philosophies regarding its future direction. For a democracy to function effectively, not all citizens need to agree. However, they all should be expected to participate within the decision-making process.

A good example of the contempt the first ‘democrats’ felt for those who did not participate in politics can be found in the modern word 'idiot', which finds its origins in the ancient Greek word ἰδιώτης (idiōtēs), meaning a private person, a person who is not actively interested in politics; such characters were talked about with contempt and the word eventually acquired its modern meaning.

In his Funeral Oration, Pericles states: 'It is only we, who regard the one not participating in these duties, not as unambitious but as ‘useless.'

This view into the emerging democracies provides insight regarding why the ability to speak in public became the basis for the modren study of speech communication.

All of this (ancient) history brings us to the current phenomenon of 21st Century USA Political Debates.

Over 150 years ago, in August, 1858, two candidates for the position of U. S. Senator of Illinois began a series of debates. These two candidates were Abraham Lincoln, a fairly insignificant man at the time, and Stephen A. Douglas, “the biggest man in Illinois.” In Galesburg, on October 7, 1858, the fifth of these debates was held. The two men argued significant issues of the time, which backed their individual beliefs and had a considerable impact on American history.

In the United States, the first presidential debate was held on November 8, 1960 between (then) Vice President Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy. The election results indicated popular votes of
34, 220,911 for Kennedy and 34,108,157 for Nixon. The electoral vote was 303 for Kennedy and 219 for Nixon.

With advances in social media, since the last general election, and the use of new communication channels to talk to the U.S. electorate, many older models for estimating support of any candidate have become outmoded. However, I would hope that open debate which allows an electorate to be informed, rather than to become the recipients of obfuscated messages, takes the lead in preparing for our November, 2012 trip to the polling places.

Hopefully, the United States electorate will be able to draw conclusions from the debates, themselves, rather than the, sometimes, superfluous television news sound-bites.

Experience the Kennedy-Nixon Debate Video Documents by selecting:

http://www.history.com/videos/the-first-jfk-nixon-debate#the-first-jfk-nixon-debate

Has Audience Analysis, in the 21 Century, Gone “Over the top?”

2012-01-19T09:15:00.000-08:00

Most of us, who have ever prepared and presented information to a group of folks, realize that not all groups are equal in the way they receive (and perceive) messages. Talking about a topic, such as health insurance, would generally require a much different approach for a 21 year old male audience than for 61 year old females.

My (rhetorical) question-of-the-day is: When might effective audience analysis feed divisiveness, within a democracy?

We, now, find ourselves at the front-end of the next U.S. presidential campaign. Based on insider reports from the last one, the only way candidates for the highest elected office in the USA may be able to gain majority positions within this round of primary elections and the general election, as well, might require that political candidates appeal to the differences of the electorate, rather than our commonalities.

You’ll find, below, links to segments of a Public Broadcasting Corporation FRONTLINE telecast report with the title “The Persuaders.” It, originally, aired on November 9, 2004 and reported on how the last Presidential election was taking “baby steps” in computer-generated voter demographic analysis. One can only imagine what the Democratic and Republican National Committees are up to, this time around.

As one who studies human communication theory and practice, my concern is that these types of approaches to building votes, for this extremely important elected position in our country, may carry great risks of fracturing the very elements that have served to unite our country in the past.

Copy and paste these web addresses into another browser bar to view the video segments:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02s49fq74&continuous=1

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=frol02s4a0q74&continuous=1

Dan

Human Communication, Life and Perception

2012-01-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

Human Communication, Life and Perception…

“If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to mankind as it is, infinite. For mankind has closed itself up, till seeing all things thru narrow chinks of a cavern." (edited/DMP) -- William Blake

William Blake: (1757-1827), English artist, mystic and poet wrote Songs of Innocence (1789): a poetry collection written from the child’s point of view, of innocent wonderment and spontaneity in natural settings which includes “Little Boy Lost”, “Little Boy Found” and “The Lamb.”

There is a widely-held belief, by many professional communicators, that the world in which each of us lives, is only defined by our personal perceptions of what we are experiencing.

With the new academic term of study upon us for the spring semester, and the new year of 2012 showing on our calendars, this is as good a time as any for us to think about how we, humans, actually communicate.

Over two hundred thousand years ago, it is reported by researchers (Saint Paul Pioneer Press 8-15-2002) that a mutant gene attacked the homo sapiens species on planet earth. That gene is reported to have given our ancestors the ability to encode and decode messages of all forms and types. The miracle of human communication had occurred!

What few consider, when learning of this occurrence, is that encoding and decoding is based on a set of symbols that we employ to speak and listen, as well as read and write. This basis of language being symbolic, leads us to the slippery slope of our understanding of the world around us, actually, not being based on facts; but, mostly, being based on our perceptions.

One of the news items being reported, as we enter our new year, is the prophecy contained within the calendar of the ancient Myan civilization. That calendar predicts the date of December 21, 2012 as a “doomsday or moment of cosmic shifting.” Additional information may be found at http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_N.htm

The link, above, contains information such as “Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars. On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time."

I consider this a perfect example of how we humans base our understanding of the world around us on how we communicate with each other. During the Spring, 2011, term of study, we’ll explore the various ways we sometimes do this well and, at other times, miss the mark!

-Dan

DOES "LEADERSHIP" REQUIRE EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION?

2011-11-27T11:07:00.000-08:00

Leadership…

Let’s begin with the definition of this word from www.Dictionary.com:
“An act or instance of leading; guidance; direction: They prospered under their strong leadership.”

The “act” that is referenced in the above definition implies effective human communication taking place in such an effort. It is my belief that effective communication, regarding the game of football, would need to have been present during all the years that coach Paterno provided “leadership” to the men who comprised some of the best teams in the history of collegiate sports.

We should guard against any rush to judgment until the recent allegations have worked their way through courts of law.

There is no question that the president of Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and Joe Paterno, the coach of the Nittany Lions football team, have been the leaders of their respective organizations for some time. The fact that they have been in their posts for some time is credit to their administrative ability.

However, humans acquire beliefs and attitudes through a process which is heavily weighted within the term “perspective.” Dictionary.com offers this definition of that word as “the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship.”

So, the question that comes to mind is “What perspective do we have of our “leaders?” Is it, simply, expecting them to be capable in carrying out the duties of their jobs? Or, do we maintain a “perspective” that they should, also, lead by example?

In the current situation with Joe Paterno, should we have expected anything more, from him, than winning football games? Should we have expected that he would have become more pro-active regarding reports of incidents relating to one of his assistant coaches?

The secondary issue is, of course, that none of us likes to become involved in incidents that relate to the ‘underbelly’ of society.

As the Guardian reported on 11/09/2011, “in a story that has much in common with the abuse scandals in the Catholic Church and cover-ups in the Nixon White House, Penn State University's vaunted football program was shattered this week by child sex-abuse charges against former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

The shocking allegations revealed in the grand jury indictment, which include abusing eight boys over a 15-year period, have also resulted in perjury charges against the school's athletic director, Tim Curley, and the vice president for business and finance, Gary Schultz, for failing to report these accusations to the police when they were first raised in 2002. And, though 84-year-old Penn State head coach Joe Paterno is not a target of the investigation, the Sandusky case will apparently end the career of the man who became the winningest coach in Division One college football history, just last month.”

My, personal, belief is that if one is going to be considered a “great” leader of men, it should not be only on Saturday afternoons on the football field.

True leadership is much more than that!

-Dan

Interpersonal Communication in a Computer-Mediated World...

2011-11-13T11:14:00.000-08:00

We are living in a time when communication does not just apply to face to face situations. Never before has it been as easy to communicate with others, given the profusion of digital communication media and devices. Social media (Facebook, texting, blogs, podcasts, MySpace, Youtube, Twitter…) has become a blending of technology and social interaction.

Read the article found below. There are several links within this online article, so be sure to click on the links and read the supplemental materials as well. Once you’ve read this article, consider the following questions:

1.) What are the negative implications of social media on our school-aged children?

2.) Do you have any personal stories to share regarding either your experience, or your children’s experience with social media?

3.) What do you think the overall influence of social media will be on our ability to become competent interpersonal communicators?

(If you have problems opening the link below, copy and paste it into a new browser bar).

http://www.aap.org/advocacy/releases/socialmedia2011.htm

When you have completed this exercise, you may wish to make note of your responses, as you (and we) move through this new millenia.

-Dan

This week…A Fish Story Like None Other!

2011-11-06T08:06:00.000-08:00

Do you think we need to enroll in a speech class?

Being a professional educator, I encourage academic research. I, for one, would never claim that I knew it all.

Considering that I’ve been talking, during most of my life on this planet…and, I’ve studied speech and human communications, since I was in ninth grade, I never knew the information that I am about to share with you.

If it hadn’t been for a friend sending me an internet link to the site “Live Science,” I would not have written this week’s blog topic. Here is the title: “Human Talking Traced to Talking Fish.”

Yes, I have heard the theories about how some believe that all life on our planet evolved from the seas, but I had no idea that we may have come ashore and, then, sat on the beach talking about our trip! :-)

Here’s the link which changed my perceptions regarding how human speech might have evolved:

http://www.livescience.com/5008-human-speech-traced-talking-fish.html

As you read, you’ll see that these researchers also claim “You got your ears from fish, too!”

---Dan

Does Our Country's Future Lie in the Hands of a TV Debate?

2011-10-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

WHICH IS MORE SCARY…
Halloween or Presidential Debates?

Halloween happens every year on October 31st

According to history.com, “Straddling the line between fall and winter, plenty and paucity, life and death, Halloween is a time of celebration and superstition. It is thought to have originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off roaming ghosts.”

According to museum.tv, the Kennedy/Nixon debates, in 1960, heralded the debate format as a mainstay of U.S. presidential elections.

THE KENNEDY-NIXON PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES...1960

On the 26th of September 1960, 70 million U.S. viewers tuned in to watch Senator John Kennedy of Massachusetts and Vice President Richard Nixon in the first-ever televised presidential debate. It was the first of four televised "Great Debates" between Kennedy and Nixon. The first debate centered on domestic issues. The high point of the second debate, on 7 October, was disagreement over U.S. involvement in two small islands off the coast of China, and on 13 October, Nixon and Kennedy continued this dispute. On 21 October, the final debate, the candidates focused on American relations with Cuba.

The Great Debates marked television's grand entrance into presidential politics.
Marshall McLuhan was a media theorist, who is best known for his statement that “The media is the message.“ What has now come to pass, within our U.S. democracy, is that the televised presidential debates have become our political messages of the 21st Century.

Greta Van Susteren’s foxnewsinsider.com blog claims that “Debates are a bit of showbiz for the networks — they spend lots and lots of money to host them. They spend big money on promotion, splashy graphics and each network seems to try to outdo the other with some snappy new technology gimmick or hip debate partner. One of my favorite parts of the debate is the beginning with all the fanfare and the grand announcement. I can’t help but think I am watching Miss America. Just like Miss America, there fancy lights and fancy sets, candidates are announced, they walk out on that runway, turn and smile to the camera…and then waive to the adoring audience.”

Is this what our founding fathers had in mind when they included freedom of speech within our constitution’s Bill of Rights?
Personally, I find it very scary that we may be deciding who should lead our country, for the next four years, by tuning in to a professionally produced political pageant!

-Dan

BABIES SHOULD NOT WATCH ANY TELEVISION

2011-10-21T13:33:00.000-07:00

How many times (and by how many researchers) does it need to be said? This time, the warning came from the august group of physicians who make up the American Academy of Pediatrics.
BABIES SHOULD NOT WATCH ANY TELEVISION!
NOT EVEN SHOWS BRANDED “EDUCATIONAL!”

These new guidelines claim that exposure might delay language development. This is NOT “Breaking News!” The ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2009) website issued the following report: “No studies to date have demonstrated benefits associated with early infant TV viewing” says Professor Christakis, whose review looked at the effect that TV has on children’s language, cognitive skills and attentional capacity, as well as areas for future research.
“The weight of existing evidence suggests the potential for harm and I believe that parents should exercise due caution in exposing infants to excessive media” he says.

“For example, the American Academy of Pediatrics discourages TV viewing in the first two years of life, but only six per cent of parents are aware of this advice despite ongoing publicity.”
Key findings of Professor Christakis’ review include: 29 per cent of parents who took part in a survey of 1,000 American families published in 2007 said they let their infants watch TV because they thought it was “good for their brains”. But claims made by manufacturers are not substantiated by peer-reviewed medical papers and industry studies. Watching TV programs, or DVDs, aimed at infants can actually delay language development, according to a number of studies. For example, a 2008 Thai study published in Acta Paediatrica found that if children, under 12 months, watched TV for more than two hours a day they were six times more likely to have delayed language skills. Another study found that children who watched baby DVDs between seven and 16 months knew fewer words than children who did not.”

As parents, who do we think we are kidding? ADHD is nearing epidemic proportions, single-parent families, or families with dual working parents, have lost the luxury of leisure time between parents and their children. After a full day at work, followed by a tight pick-up schedule from day care, offers minimal time in busy family schedules.

However, apparently, the research continues to show that watching TV (or a DVD) is not the answer, if you have your child’s language development in proper focus.

I am not a research expert on this matter. However, I know that there are only four, possible, ways we humans can communicate: Reading, writing, speaking & listening. As we move into this 21st Century, a child (in my opinion) will need to be very proficient in ALL four!

Here are the links to the information that I have referenced within this blog.

The latest report: http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/wellness/132115238.html
The ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2009) website, which issued one of the early reports: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090113074419.htm
-Dan

Can a Democracy Survive with a “Silent” Majority?

2011-10-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

I, just now, checked my calendar. I can see that there are 52 weeks in a year. But, what caught me off guard was the fact that there are, only, about 55 weeks until our next election! Whoa…

What prompted me to engage in all of this calendar watching was the headline on the cover of the October 24, 2011 edition of Time Magazine. It arrived in my mailbox carrying a bold black and white graphic with the headline: “The Return of the Silent Majority.” It, also, carried the sub-headline of “Yes, you can hear it above the noise on the left and right.”

The author, Joe Klein, claims that “The people with megaphones get the most attention. But, the majority of Americans long for moderate politics.”

Being an instructor of speech communication, I thought back to what I had learned about the genesis of my academic area of study and the fact that speech (rhetoric) is considered the ‘original liberal art,’ as it grew out of the need of the citizens, within the fledgling democracy of Greece, to be vocal participants within this new form of government.

From that genesis, democratic soceties have relied upon citizens to speak up about their needs and decisions. In fact, there were folks who were employed, in ancient Greece, to speak for its citizens within the political arenas. They were known as Sophists…sort of the first public relations/advertising salespeople.

The point of all this thinking is that my belief holds that a democracy is all that it is because it can rely upon (require, maybe) its citizens to make their opinions heard. Yep, I used bold lettering …and, italics for that word! And, in order to be heard, someone needs to speak!

Is it time for the U.S. majority of citizens to STOP being silent? Maybe, it is time for the Time Magazine-reported majority to be screaming!

In the 1976 motion picture, Network, Peter Finch, who portrayed a television news anchor, began shouting: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” His on-air tirade was, then, echoed by viewers everywhere. And, speaking of old movies, how about the 1992 A Few Good Men, where Jack Nicholson, as Jessep, a witness during a court martial trial shouts “Truth… You can't handle the truth!”

Maybe, just maybe, our U.S. democracy has reached the point where our ‘silent majority’ needs to find it’s voices and speak up!

Whatever course of action the silent majority selects, we only have 55 weeks remaining until the next election!

-Dan

The "WIRED" Generation!

2011-10-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

The “WIRED” Generation

Emily Listfield, in her article in this week’s Parade Magazine, delivered inside this Sunday’s (10-8-11) Star-Tribune newspaper, asks a big 21st Century question. “What kind of parent are you?”

Dr. Gwenn O’Keeffe, the lead author of the American Academy of Pediatrics 2011 report on the impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families is quoted as claiming that “The digital landscape is a positive place for kids. But, she says, children need guidance. Others, however, claim it is an area which can become very much of a problem for 21st Century families!

A few years ago, as a part of a Mass Media course I was teaching, our class viewed a PBS “Frontline” program titled The Merchants of Cool. Part of it talked about how mass media was pandering and pitching products to our children. One of the music groups that was featured had the name of “Insane Clown Posse,” and at the conclusion of one classroom session, a woman approached my desk to let me know she, sincerely, appreciated that class, since she had several music disks, featuring this group, in her car.

She explained that she had made to purchases, a short time before arriving on campus, as she thought her children would like music made by clowns. She explained that she would be on her way. soon, to return the items to the store!

At the time when I was teaching that Mass Media course of study, I’d often answer a parent’s question about “How do I make sure my child does not watch inappropriate cable TV channels,” by stating “Cut the wire!”

That answer is no longer valid, for our kids have access to wireless connection possibilities.

As parents, we can quickly recognize that a potential danger exists, if we see a child running with a pair of scissors or trying to push them into an electrical wall socket. But what about dangerous activities they may be engaged in on the internet…wired or wireless!

We apparently, are not the only ones who perceive certain internet and social networking activities as potentially harmful to youngsters. The “Big Guns” with a lot to win and/or lose in our information age are, also, taking note. Check via your favorite search engine to see what some of the articles from credible experts say.

For example, visit

www.microsoft.com/security/family-safety/kids-social.aspx and see what they have to say about the fact that “Too much information can make your children vulnerable to cyberbullying, Internet predators, Internet fraud, or identity theft.”

In fact, if you search for information on the internet regarding “protecting kids on the internet,” as I did, you’ll see that there are about 6,330,000 results (0.35 seconds).

”Thank you, very much "Mr. Google!”

-Dan

The Comic Strips Mirror Life, It Seems!

2011-10-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ever since I was a paper boy, in my youth, I've looked at the comic strips in my newspapers, before attempting the sports or daily news sections.

Throughout my life, the comics have maintained a closer and closer resemblance to the world that I live in.

Recently, while 'surfing the net,' I came upon a site containing the "Comic Strip Project" and an article titled "Comic Strips and Society." It is just the latest realization for me that the comedy I enjoy is that which holds a mirror up to us, all, and forces a hard look at our reality. I found that the same is true with the stand-up comedians that I enjoy watching. The web address for the article is http://www.bpib.com/comicsproj/society.html , in the event that you'd like to read all about it!

I find myself, constantly, placing comic strips, such as Dilbert by Scott Adams, on my classroom document projection system to share the messages with my students. The web article, referenced above, contains the comment: "The funnies capture a snapshot of American life-the clothes, cars, equipment, words, slogans, and slang of a given era. Today's funnies, for example, are filled with computers, fax machines, video recorders, and cell phones (all of which teens can use and adults struggle with.) Daily "Dilbert" cartoons are posted on thousands of doors and cubicles in companies across America (except a few where the management feels that it's so close to reality as to be subversive.)"

My favorite comedian was the late George Carlin, who left us in 2008. http://www.georgecarlin.com

He may be best known for his use of language to shock his audiences. "I can't believe that he, actually, said XXXX!" He seemed to be an expert on bringing to the forefront certain topics that were not, usually, discussed within polite society. However, it was a certain mischievous insight that he communicated to his listeners, which became his hallmark signature.

The "Language Foundry" website http://www.thinctanc.co.uk/words/comedy.html discusses what makes something funny to us. "Comedy is not a science, its art! Therefore, there are no rules and it can be very subjective. What one person finds funny, another might have cause to cringe!"

One thing that is worth noting is that when analyzing comedy, and what is funny, it is almost like it is only visible out of the corner of your eye. As soon as you try and look directly at it, and analyze it too much...all of the funniness disappears!

Why do we finds things funny? Why does this reaction force us to convulse and make the noise of laughter?

I have NO idea!

There are no simple answers to why we find some things funny. Something is funny because it captures a moment...it contains an element of simple truth...it is something that we have always known for eternity and, yet, are hearing it now...out loud...for the first time.

Personally, I think that our need to feel intelligent comes into play, a lot, in finding things funny. Maybe humor is, actually, the overwhelming joy at feeling intelligent. Somebody tries to put on their shoes while standing up and falls over in the process. They look foolish! We, therefore, feel intelligent, as we are not the one who was falling over.

We laugh!

Someone makes a clever joke and only a few people get it. If we get the joke, we recognize the person as being clever and feel clever, since we understood the concept.

We laugh!

So, is humor partly to do with self-congratulation at being intelligent?

Comedy, rather, is full of opposites and contradictions.

I've been thinking, all this time, about how to end this discussion of comedy and comic strips. I can only say that I'm pleased that we humans can catch a bit of enjoyment within our lives, by enjoying some comedy from wherever it comes.

- Dan

Knowing What It Is Does Not Mean That You Know How To Use It!

2011-09-26T16:01:00.000-07:00

The headline for this week's discussion is one that is made by the veterans of business and sports when the "rookies" show up at the doorstep to the "Big Leagues."

An example of what that phrase portends is that many, who read this blog, may know what a baseball is. Few, however, would know how to strike out major league batters. Therefore, just knowing that something exists does not make us ready to join a high-stakes game, in any type of professional organization.

This week, we'll look at social media. It is everywhere, it seems, and the majority of those with an interest in communicating in cyberspace, probably know what it is. The question is do any of us know what the 'pros' know? Most of us have been utilizing eMail for quite a while. I believe it was sometime around 1988, when I established my first eMail account. I've had dozens since. Frankly,I'm still learning intricate nuances.

As I see it, there are two, major, issues we have in moving up to the 'big leagues' of social media usage. The first is that there is a generation which seems to need "perpetual connectivity." These folks are driving the need to be given similar tools, where they work, which they believe they need in order to do their jobs! Of course, every employer wants to improve productivity, so why not invest in 'business-class' social media at work? The problem rests wit the term "security!"

An "oxymoron" according to Dictionary.com is "a figure of speech...which produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect." "Internet Security" appears, to me, to be such a phrase.

Brian Stelter, of the New York Times, penned an article, which appeared June 29, 2011 with the headline: On the Web, privacy is history! His article claims that "...erosion of anonymity is a product of pervasive social media services, cheap cell-phone cameras, free photo and video Web hosts, and perhaps most important of all, a change in people's views about what ought to be public and what ought to be private."

So, my friends, many of us know what all this media is. But, are we just "rookies" who don't really, know how to use it? Moreover, when are we going to be the applicant in an employment interview...for the big leagues...and the topic comes up about what we , really, know about this new way of communicating?

-Dan

We Can Encode & Decode But We, Many Times, Don't Know the Code!

2011-09-18T09:18:00.000-07:00

Our homo sapien species has been evolving over centuries, but we are not identical to those who walked the earth hundreds of thousands of years ago.

Nine years ago, on August 15, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press carried a Washington Post dispatch regarding a research discovery which reported that "two critical mutations appeared roughly 200,000 years ago in a gene linked to language, then swept through the primitive human population, rapidly, at about the same time that culture first appeared on the Earth."

So, my friends, apparently we are all mutants!

But, that gene allowed our species to encode and decode messages. That is what speaking and listening is all about. Ever since that mutant gene attacked, we have also been trying to make sense of arched eyebrows, hand gestures and on good days, without wind, smoke signals.

Five years after the Pioneer Press report, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that "New DNA evidence, extracted from remains found in Spain, suggests that the extinct human species had a gene that has been associated with language in modern man."

Recently (Star-Tribune - April 15, 2011), a researcher who, reportedly, was working on analyzing the sounds, in languages, spoken around the world, has detected an ancient signal that points to southern Africa as the place where modern human language originated.

Folks have dedicated their life's work in search of cracking the mystery of what made our species able to communicate with language. All we know so far, is that the advanced decoding and ecoding capabilities apparently reside, only, with our species.

However, it is the fact that we need to effectively encode and decode in order to successfully communicate that leads to many mis-communicated messages. Have you ever heard someone say to you "Don't look at me in that tone of voice!"

Add to this mix the fact that there are all types of noise introduced within the message transmission, such as environmental and psychological factors, and you begin to realize why so many messages never, successfuly, reach their target.

So, the next time, someone does not quite, fully, understand what it is you were trying to say to them, don't take it personally. Humans have been encountering that problem, I'm sure, for millennia.

- Dan

Has Obfuscation Replaced "Truth, Justice and the American Way?"

2011-09-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

Page 858 of my trusty 2nd College Edition of the American Heritage Dictionary contains the word "obfuscate." It says "to obscure," "to confuse."

The barrage of obfuscated terms that bombard our society, on a daily basis, has now taken on the Man of Steel's motto: Truth, Justice and the American Way!

The U.S. society has come to accept and, maybe, even expect obfuscated language from business entities (the word "guarantee," as an example) or politicians ("revenue enhancement" when talking about the need to raise taxes).

But take this, Superman! A Hennepin County Court, right here in Minnesota, has accepted a deal termed an "Alford plea" in the case of a Forest Lake nurse who stole a patient's painkiller and sent him, undermedicated, into agonizing kidney stone surgery.

According to court records, noted within a September 1, 2011 Star-Tribune report, the former nurse won't go to jail.

Under a deal made with the prosecutors, the nurse "entered an Alford plea of guilty." Here's what the term "Alford plea" is said to mean. It enabled the defendant "to maintain her innocence while acknowledging the evidence stated in the court would be enough to convict her."

The report goes on to say that as a result of the plea bargain, the judge "stayed an adjudication of guilt," meaning that the case will be dismissed after (the former nurse) serves three years' probation. She will serve no time and pay no fine.

To me, I initially thought that the court case was presided over by the Mad Hatter and took place in Alice's Wonderland!

But, as a result of my lack of legal knowledge, I was shocked to learn that an "Alford Plea" is not, only, a Minnesota law, but one that applies throughout the U.S.

About.com Crime/Punishment claims "Upon receiving an Alford plea from a defendant, the court may immediately pronounce the defendant guilty and impose sentence, as if the defendant had otherwise been convicted of the crime. However, in many states...(it)...more typically results in the case being continued without a finding and later dismissed."

Don't be timid! When you hear a word used, within a situation that has a direct effect on you, make sure to ask "What does that, really, mean?"

Next Week: New Results are in, regarding questions about where did human modern language begin.

We'll reference several theories, including one which claims we humans are a mutated form of the original homo sapiens.

Dan

Electronic Social Media Can Make It's Own History

2011-09-02T13:34:00.000-07:00

What Does Electronic Social Media Portend?

For longer than I can remember, there was a phrase that "The pen is mightier than the sword." The 21st Century question may be "Is social media mightier than the pen?"

The Reuters news service has appointed a social media editor to its news staff. That position recently expanded to include fighting misinformation from Social Media sources during recent news-making events.

Recently, when big news stories break, folks are asked for information on what they are seeing and then to provide 'eye-witness' accounts and images to the broader audience of social media followers.

As hurricane Irene approached New York City recently, Reuters Social Media Editor Anthony De Rosa is reported to have tweeted "There's an image going around of the East River cresting. It is fake."

This is a striking example of how computer-mediated communication can go off on a wrong tangent, very quickly!

There has always been the big issue, within news reporting, of what is fact and what is opinion. But, heretofore, not everyone had access to the presses or the TV transmitters. With social media gaining a foothold as a provider of news, we may find it more difficult than ever to ascertain what reports we can believe and which ones we should ignore.

Last week, in our Intro to Speech Communication classes, our chapter centered around how we humans perceive ourselves and others. Human perception effects all elements of our communication. We perceive 'truth,' 'credibility,' and a message's 'believability.'

During my high school years, when I was editor of our school newspaper, my grandfather once told me that everything in his hometown newspaper was the 'absolute truth.' When I laughed, he almost asked me to leave his house. I decided, my relationship with him was more important than winning the argument.

I wonder how many folks looking at their hand-held digital devices, at storm information, had a similar perception of the images on their screens that my grandfather had regarding his daily newspaper?

The British poet William Blake wrote "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everthing would appear as it is...infinite."

NEXT WEEK: Argumentation, Debate and Legal Definitions of Terms....Remember Superman's Motto: Truth, Justice and the American Way?

Learn the term "Alfrord Plea," which allows a defendant to plead guilty, but enables them to maintain their innocence while acknowledging the evidence stated in court would be enough to convict them. It happened in a Minnesota courtroom this past week!

Dan

For Want of a Nail...

2010-07-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

Poor Human Communication Portends Disastrous Effects

In 1758, Benjamin Franklin closely quoted an age-old statement which, clearly, explained the proverbial rhyme which focused on the fact that small actions can result in large consequences. It goes like this:

For Want of a Nail...

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe, the horse was lost.
For want of a horse, the rider was lost.
For want of a rider, the battle was lost.
For want of a battle, the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

The question, which needs to be considered, is where, in this process, do we place ineffective human communication?

Did someone not understand the message that the nail of the horseshoe needed to be replaced, immediately? Was there a discussion regarding the, potential, consequences if the horse could not carry its rider into battle?

Currently, we are facing what experts refer to as a pending disaster, which is the result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the BP oil disaster or the Macondo blowout) and is a massive ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico that is the largest offshore spill in U.S. history.

A review of available reports regarding the events, which led up to this spill, indicates that “During March and early April, several platform workers and supervisors expressed concerns with well control.”

At approximately 9:45 p.m. CDT on April 20, 2010, methane gas from the well, under high pressure, shot all the way up and out of the drill column, expanded onto the platform, and then ignited and exploded. Fire then engulfed the platform. Most of the workers were evacuated by lifeboats or were airlifted out by helicopter, but eleven workers were never found despite a three-day Coast Guard search operation, and are presumed to have died in the explosion. Efforts by multiple ships to douse the flames were unsuccessful. After burning for approximately 36 hours, the Deepwater Horizon sank on the morning of April 22, 2010. “As a result, the drilling riser running from the wellhead on the ocean floor up to the oil rig was destroyed.”

Many news reports carried this identical message regarding employee concerns about well control. Few, if any, detail the ‘concerns.’

For our purposes, however, it is clear that human communication efforts were unable to avert the disaster!

This is not the only example of ineffective human communication being a major component in a resulting disaster.

Let’s, next, consider The Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, which occurred on January 28, 1986, when Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, leading to the deaths of its seven crew members. The spacecraft disintegrated over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of central Florida, United States, at 11:39 a.m. EST. Many communication experts assert that this was not a “technical” malfunction. Rather it was a human communication malfunction. A visit to studenthome.nku.edu/~riderj/challenger%20report.pdf may provide additional support for such a claim.

Human history contains many examples of such miss-communication events. Each of us may have knowledge of our own examples within our families, our work-places or with friends and acquaintances.

The point is, before believing that a disaster may have been caused by elements that were beyond our abilities to control, consider how we humans may have contributed to the final effect, due to our inability to effectively communicate with one another.

Human communication can only be based upon each of our, personal, sets of experience and knowledge. There was much fun made of a quote by Donald Rumsfeld, who served as Secretary of Defense under Presidents Ford and Bush. During a press briefing, he explained, "There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we don't know we don't know."

A recent Associated Press Story might give us, all, some realization that it's what "we don't know that we don't know" that could present a communication problem. Read the following excerp from this news report and think back if you ever knew this information.

27,000 Abandoned Wells in Gulf Going Unchecked

By JEFF DONN and MITCH WEISS, Associated Press
Last update: July 6, 2010 - 8:04 PM

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one -- not industry, not government -- is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing. The AP investigation uncovered particular concern with 3,500 of the neglected wells -- those characterized in federal government records as "temporarily abandoned."

Regulations for temporarily abandoned wells require oil companies to present plans to reuse or permanently plug such wells within a year, but the AP found that the rule is routinely circumvented, and that more than 1,000 wells have lingered in that unfinished condition for more than a decade. About three-quarters of temporarily abandoned wells have been left in that status for more than a year, and many since the 1950s and 1960s.

As a reminder of the potential harm, the well beneath BP's Deepwater Horizon rig was being sealed with cement for temporary abandonment when it blew April 20. BP alone has abandoned about 600 wells in the Gulf, government data.

There's ample reason for worry about all permanently and temporarily abandoned wells -- history shows that at least on land, they often leak.

Dan Paulnock
7-8-10

2009-09-16T16:58:00.000-07:00

Where Were You on September 2nd of 1969?

That is the date when about 20 people gathered in a laboratory on the UCLA campus to view a demonstration by Len Kleinrock. Reports indicate that what they saw were two rather bulky computers that were passing meaningless test data through a fifteen foot cable. This event is considered, by many, to have been the 'birth' of the internet!

That is how the Arpanet network began. Joining the academic efforts, shortly thereafter, were the Stanford Research Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara and the University of Utah.

The "Internet" didn't become a household word until the 90's, after a British physicist, Tim Berners-Lee, invented the Web...a subset of the Internet that made it easier to link resources from many locations.

Many who read this information probably cannot remember a time when they did not have access to all that the internet offers. However, for others, there is a realization that the power of the net is a new star on the horizon of humankind's history which cannot, ever, be diminished.

It is important, for all of us to realize that what the internet has become did not, simply, appear one day on our computer screens. To that point, we are providing a link to an interesting historical time-line which takes us through the past sixty years of human effort to provide us with the powers that are now possessed by this 'thing' we refer to as the 'net.'

A visit to the following link will, surely, unveil many new elements which have historical significance that are relative to the technological evolution of humankind. - Dan

http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/#1950s

In a Computer Social Network, Who Is a True Friend?

2009-08-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

WHO'S REALLY IN YOUR CIRCLE OF FRIENDS?

There are more and more reports coming from various sources, that all the fun of computer social networking may turn to angst...especially if you are in the process of a new job search.

For some time, its been common knowledge that prospective employers devote time and attention to computer searches for all types of information that might be available, regarding those who are applying for employment opportunities within their organizations.

Forever, we've heard the advice to "Put your best foot forward!" This, however, does not mean that you just need to keep your shoes shined!

In the computer-mediated society of 21st Century America, it also means to watch your Facebook and put a lid on tweets! That is what David Phelps of the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper wrote in the June 28, 2009 edition. Here is the link http://www.startribune.com/business/49213757.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU for the full story.

A recent personal experience proved to me just how pervasive the computer search engines can be. For years, I've had a coaster on my home office desk. Back on October of 2007, I had scanned that coaster to become a graphic within this blog.

I was shocked when it showed up under a Google Images search of my name.

Try it yourself. Use your favorite search engine. See what it finds when you place your name in the search field. Then, select the image search for your name, as well.

What might personnel department managers find when they are looking for information about you?

Dan

Freedom of Speech

2009-08-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the New College term of Fall, 2009

Autumn is in the air and classes are beginning on campuses throughout the US. This might be a good time to celebrate the free speech and expression rights that have been bestowed upon us by the United States Constitution.

As part of a complex legal battle, some see the Supreme Court of the United States to be "blameworthy for some entangled abuses...of property rights and weakened freedom of speech."

Reports explain that "in an unusual September 9th session, the court will hear, for a second time, oral arguments in a case arising from not overturning the McCain-Feingold law."

About.com says that the McCain-Feingold law centered on the following issues: "The McCain-Feingold Act, Public Law 107-155, is the US federal law that regulates the financing of political campaigns; chief sponsors were Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Russell Feingold (D-WI). The law became effective 6 November 2002. It is ironic that the legislation is known as "McCain-Feingold" because the Senate version is not the bill that became law. Instead, the companion legislation, H.R. 2356 -- introduced by Rep. Christopher Shayes (D-CT), is the version that became law. Shays-Meehan was originally introduced as H.R. 380. The law, also known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, focused on areas such as "Soft money" in campaign financing."

Reports indicate that the elements of our rights of "Freedon of Speech" might be caught up in how the Supreme Court makes its future decisions on a campaign finance law.

There is no question that this is a very complex mix of politics, the Supreme Court of the U.S and our constitution's Bill of Rights. However, we are talking about a very key element of our freedoms as U.S. citizens.

Additionally, it demonstrates the fragility of our freedoms. Did any of us even know that this cornerstone of our Bill of Rights was up for consideration by our Supreme Court?

Keep checking with us for future news related to this issue.

-Dan

The Spin Cycle Is Running At Full Speed!

2008-10-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Spin: (verb) "Slang. to cause to have a particular bias; influence in a certain direction: His assignment was to spin the reporters after the president's speech. " - www.Dictionary.com

This is the season of the year to either thrown up your hands in exasperation or sit back and 'enjoy' how the politicial operatives are working overtime to "spin" their version of reality to the side which plays best to the electorate.

In our Mass Media & Communication course of study, we learn and study the phrase "constructed mediated reality." The definition for this phrase is to have reality altered in such a way as to make it more believable to a listener or viewer.

I've often wondered if 'reality' returns after political campaigns or if, by magic, our collective hard-drives can be wiped clean and normality returns to our perspectives.

This past week Neal Justin, who is the television reporter of the Minneapolis Star Tribune newspaper, attempted to determine "How much political coverage can one man consume?" For me, the final report that he filed with his editor indicated that even with us living at a time when more media is available to each of us than humankind has ever before known the quantity of political coverage does not replace the need for the quality of coverage offered.

I'm providing the link to Neal's report. You can arrive at your own answer to the question of quality vs. quantity. http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/tv/33128799.html?elr=KArksUUUU

Dan

2008-10-19T13:02:00.001-07:00

Encoding & Decoding: The base-line of communication

2008-10-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Two hundred thousand years ago, a mutant gene attacked the human species on planet earth. That's what the August 15, 2002 edition of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press newspaper reported. Reportedly, that is what allows us to encode and decode all types of messages. Our language spoken and written symbols, our non-verbal and non-vocal codes plus smoke signals and lights hung in church steeples all are able to carry messages from one human to another.

A definition of "language" as found at Dictionary.com, is "a body of words and the systems for their use common to a people who are of the same community or nation, the same geographical area, or the same cultural tradition."

To be successful in transmitting these messages, however, requires both the transmitter and receiver of the message to know the common code. These 'common codes' are generally termed "languages." According to a report prepared for the Linguistic Society of America, there are nearly 7000 languages in use throughout the world. Most of these languages have been developed over millenia.

The link to that report is http://www.lsadc.org/info/pdf_files/howmany.pdf

You may have quickly developed codes in grade school to circumvent a super-strict teacher who would not permit note-passing in class. However, there was no easy way to share that code with the other second-graders of the world. My, how times (and technology) have changed.

Cellular telephone texting technology and related advances in this computer age has become the birthplace of new language that many of us are not even aware of. Two of the languages that have emerged are "IM-Speak" and "L33T Speak."

Those blog readers who have family members under the age of 18, who are living with them, may be interested in a perusal of these new methods of communication.

Links to information regarding these languages are as follows:

http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2008/03/google-talk-goes-green.html

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=l33t

Finally, you might find this article interesting: (50 Words That Kids Think You Don't Know) http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourworld/powerof50/articles/power_of_50__what.html

Dan

Is it debate or pageanty?

2008-10-04T18:10:00.000-07:00

The Debate! Is it political pageantry?

Most dictionaries define this word (pag·eant·ry) as a “mere show; empty display.”
There is no question that this was one of the most-watched political events in our nation’s history. More than 70 million people tuned into Thursday's vice presidential debate. This was far more than the audience for the first contest featuring McCain and Obama. The first presidential debate of 2008 captured 52.4 million sets of eyeballs.

Tuesday's audiece would make the vice-presidential debate the second most-watched political debate ever, behind only the 80.6 million people who watched the1980 encounter between then President Carter and Ronald Regan, according to Nielsen Media Research.

The 2008 presidential candidates will have two more debates, the first of them on Tuesday, October 7th.

We could talk for hours about the reasons for such a keen interest in this series of political debates. The real question is what do the viewers hope to see and hear from these events? More importantly, are these events becoming pageants that are being served-up to viewers who are sitting in front of their television with remote controls at the ready to switch to another ‘reality’ show within their eleven-second attention span?

Here are some selected comments, which appeared subsequently to the VP debate. They have been selected from a cross-section of sources. You may find your own sources to share via this blog, as well.

http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_biden-palin_debate.html
http://voices.kansascity.com/node/2300
http://thestatecom.typepad.com/ygatoday/2008/10/who-won-the-vp.html

Dan

Monday - September 22, 2008

2008-09-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

WHAT DID THEY JUST SAY?

There are times, during an election campaign, when I feel as though I've fallen down a hole and have landed in the middle of a Mad Hatter's tea party!

I usually write these weekly comments on Sundays, since that is the beginning of the calendar week. This week-end, I became very heavily immersed in the debate, which surrounds the federal legislation that is termed "The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)."

More to the point, I became involved in the language of "obfuscation." (A nod is made in the direction of Wayne Ryder.) Really, though, how could we make it through a campaign without considering the use of obfuscated language.

Maybe it was the fact that I became distracted by a Minnesota Vikings team that had, finally, shown up to play.

In any case, over the years, my impression has developed into one that, in general terms, leads me to believe that a democratic candidate usually will support labor unions and others of the working class. So, how could it be that Republican candidates were claiming support of union organization and the Democratic candidates were being accused of non-support.

As has been my choice, within this blog, during our considerations of election communication, I'll maintain my attempt at neutrality. After all, this is an academic activity!

First, we'll review the statements found on the web home pages of the two Senate candidates:

Al Franken- In the Senate, I’ll work to protect Minnesota’s working families:
Not only will I vote for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), I’ll proudly co-sponsor it. This bill would make it easier for employees who want to organize to do so without harassment or intimidation, and would reform a labor relations system currently dominated by corporate interests.

Norm Coleman- June 26th, 2007 - Washington, D.C. – Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN) joined his Senate colleagues in voting to oppose the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), legislation that would have done away with a worker’s right to a private election when deciding whether or not to unionize.

You may wish to visit the following web locations for additional information and viewpoints:

http://www.heritage.org/Research/labor/bg2175.cfm

http://www.uschamber.com/issues/index/labor/cardchecksecrbal.htm

-Dan

Do Any of Us Understand How Campaign Communication Is Planned In the 21st Century?

2008-09-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

Here we all are, right in the middle of what is described as a 'battleground' state, as the 2008 Presidential campaign swirls around us. The Sunday Minneapolis Star-Tribune (9-14-08) carried the banner headline "OBAMA, McCAIN ARE DEAD EVEN!" The reporter's chart of research responses showed that our state was evenly split... right down the middle!

As an unrelated circumstance, our Saturday morning Fast-Track Interpersonal Communication class had been discussing how to differentiate between statements that are considered facts or opinions. As part of our investigation of this question, we had viewed a small segment of a Public Broadcasting video with the title of The Persuaders. In it, was a comment that there has developed a double standard of ethics for statements made in product advertising, as compared to political advertising. The students were shocked to hear the PBS television commentator note that there are, basically, NO rules which govern what can be stated within a political ad which airs in the USA.

I do not maintain a Don Quixote personality. Therefore, I do not expect that every citizen of the Gopher state will visit this blog and be able to consider this issue. However, I will feel that I've met my responsibility as an instructor, within the academic areas of human communication theory and practice, to bring information regarding this issue into this discussion area.

To this point, I am offering some links which may be of interest to those who wish to see what we listeners and viewers will need to sort out, over the next eight weeks.

The first is an academic report on the topic. The second link is to the Public Broadcasting Corporation website where updated information will become available throughout the campaign.

http://www.stanford.edu/~siyengar/research/papers/advertising.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec04/ad_7-19.html

As the saying goes, "Stay tuned!" - Dan

2008-09-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

September Is
National Preparedness Month

September is a month to remember disasters and the communication lapses that exacerbated them.

During the month of September, citizens of the United States are remembering the anniversaries of such major disasters as the attack on the World Trade Center in New York City, Hurricane Katrina and others.

As first responder organizations attempt to improve methodology utilized, when responding to these types of events, they seem to keep coming up with one common denominator…improvement of effective communication!

We do not live within a perfect environment. There will always be storms, natural occurrences which threaten life and property and other human-initiated events that injure and kill.
There have been some recent developments in technology which offer opportunities for improved communication when disasters strike. However, it still rests with a human to develop and transmit the appropriate messages, during such an event.

All the basic elements of effective human communication become even more important during a disaster. For example, whomever develops the message must consider the profile of the particular audience which is being addressed. Is the message for professional disaster-response personnel, military units which are assisting in general disaster relief efforts, local or state government personnel or regular citizens.

For further information on the technology related to Disaster Balloons, which inflate and launch as disaster information transmitters, you may wish to visit this web location: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Disaster-Balloons-Maintains-Communication-During-Natural-Calamities-56099.shtml
To learn how the office of Homeland Security is viewing communication capabilities for disaster response, you may wish to visit the following web location: http://www.nobskaventures.com/Pages/News/Homeland%20Security%20Daily%20-%20TELECONTINUITY%20ARTICLE%20071107.pdf
There is also a very good article which was developed by the Center for Risk Communication in New York City. It can be reached at http://www.dmh.missouri.gov/ada/provider/sti/04/Best%20Practices%20in%20Public%20Health%20Risk%20and%20Crisis%20Communication.pdf

- Dan

Politics Goes Non-Verbal...Can you believe it?

2008-09-02T12:10:00.000-07:00

Television coverage, of US elections, came of age in Kennedy-Nixon Debates.

There are those of us who remember watching the debates. For those who've never seen them, you may wish to visit

http://www.c-span.org/classroom/govt/debateshistory.asp

You may also wish to view Barack Obama's Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech.

http://www/pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/dnc/

Some believe that Nixon lost the debates because of non-verbal communication. Many of the listeners to radio, only, believed that Nixon had won!

If you've been following the reports from the Republican National Convention, which is taking place a few blocks from the Saint Paul College campus where I'm an instructor, it seems as though the leaders of the 'Grand Old Party" figured they'd better watch out for bad non-verbal communication, as the latest hurricane to bear down on New Orleans headed that way.

They didn't want to be seen having a "Grand Old Time" as another potential disaster was in the making. As a student of human communications, I believe they did the correct thing in offering the best perspective, possible, to U.S. citizens who might be tuning in to the television coverage of events in Saint Paul.

There are researchers who believe that nearly 60% of the messages we receive from others are received via non-verbal cues. How many times have you heard the phrase "Don't look at me in that tone of voice?"

If you watched the Democrat's final evening, with the great non-verbal messages in their open-air setting and the Rocky Mountain real-life backdrop, as they wrapped up their convention in Colorado, you know the Republicans took the correct approach not to 'party-hearty' with a natural disaster in the making.

I have often wondered about just how much political communication occurs in non-verbal ways. Could that, really, be the reason for so many folks saying they did not vote for a, particular, candidate because they just didn't like the way he or she looked/acted?

You may wish to follow the links, shown here, to listen in on a podcast with Kurt Kortenhof. Kurt is a History Instructor at Saint Paul College. He joined me, in a brand new audio studio of the college, to discuss some topics that connect human communication events to our nation's political history.

www.saintpaul.edu/itunesu

(You may need to, first, visit www.apple.com/itunes/download )

Dan

What A Wonderful Time To Enroll In A Speech Course

2008-08-23T13:42:00.000-07:00

If The Greek Sophists Could Just See Us Now!

History claims that democracy was adopted to replace tyranny, in Athens, during the 6th century BCE. It was only a small segment of Greek citizens who participated in this new form of government. A small segment of male citizens were the ones who participated, at first. But even though it was only an embronic beginning, it was the spark that began an idea, which helped grow the United States into the nation it has become.

Along with this new form of govenment, came the need for an ability to speak for one's self, in order to fully funciton as an Athenian citizen. These speaking skills offered substantial rewards of money and status to those who possessed them and many Athenians decided the quick way to their personal success was to purchase these attributes.

Those individuals who studied and taught persuasive speaking in public venues were termed "sophists.' They termed the subject they taught others to be rhetoric. Most sophists charged for their talents and knowledge. Thus, this was the beginning of the academic area we teach today, known as speech and/or communcation.

As we citizens of the USA begin our newest journey to the election of a new national leader, I wonder what a 6th century Sophist would think about the way our society communcates with the technology that is avilable to many of us fifteen centuries later.

There is a quotation, that has been attributed to Plato, which might place our current technology options into perspective.

"Someday, in the distant future, our grandchildren's grandchildren

will develop a new equivalent of our classrooms.

They will spend many hours in front of boxes, with fires glowing within.

May they have the wisdom to know the difference between light and knowledge."

We, certainly, are going to have many dancing lights jumping across our television screens, as we move closer to our election day in November. It is my belief that only the very diligent viewer will be able to sort through the media maze and "know the difference between light and knowledge."

Probably, most of us have heard the question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" But, what about the question, "Which came first, democracy or the ability to effectively communicate between citizens within a community?" There are those writers and scholars who claim that "Politics is, fundamentally, a communicative activity." I ask, "Is it our human ability to communicate that might foster the process of democratic rule?"

Your opinion is as good as mine (within this democratic society of ours), so feel free to take a stand and defend it!

In an effort to provide you with just a slight peek "under the tent" of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, I have included two web links, below:

#1 http://demconvention.com/schedule/

#2 http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/democratic-national-committee-2008-convention/story.aspx?guid=%7BD5F7325F-E3EF-4035-A320-25C9111D3F79%7D&dist=hppr

Link # 2 provides you with information on the Monday, August 25th scheduled press briefing, which includes how to call-in at 1-866-847-7859 for a 'listen-in only' opportunity to hear how the working press will be briefed, each day, on the upcoming events that will be 'staged' by the Dems.

I just have the feeling that, eventually, we won't be able to figure out which 'sophist' is doing what to whom! :-)

We intend to place material, within this site, that provides insight into the above question of who is doing what type of communication and to which audience it might be intended. We'll welcome your thoughts as well, including opinions on how effective you believed the communication efforts to be.

UPCOMING CONNECTION TO ONE OF THE GREATEST SPEECHES OF ALL TIME

On the evening of Thursday-August 28, 2008, the Democratic National Convention in Denver will move it's venue to INVESCO Field at Mile High Stadium, as Barack Obama accepts the Democratic nomination for President of the United States.

Such a large outdoor event plan is not without purpose on that date. It was 45 years ago, on August 28 of 1963 that Dr. Martin Luther King delivered his famous (and world-changing) speech known by the popular name of "I Have a Dream."

In Dr. King's speech, he spoke of a dream of a future where black people would exist, among others, as equals. Delivered to over two hundred thousand civil rights supporters, the speech is often considered to be one of the greatest and most notable speeches in history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

The speech is seen, by many, as the catalist for passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Legislation. Most U.S. citizens, over the age of 50, might agree that many of the benefits of life, that U.S. citizens enjoy today, are the result of this legislation which challenged the status quo of citizen's everyday lives. For details on The Civil Rights Act of 1964, you may wish to visit the following web address:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964

To explore the background of Dr. King's history-making speech and view his presentation, you may wish to visit the following web address:

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

It will be interesting, I'm sure, to see how Senator Obama weaves the history of Dr. King's speech into his response, when accepting the Democratic Party's nomination for President.

Dan

Some Human Communication Events That Qualify For: http://www.simplydumb.com

2007-10-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

IT NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME...

Human communication cannot, generally, be retreived. So, be careful!

I am always explaining to students that they need to think twice before speaking. The United States Poet Lauriet - Carol Sandberg - in his epic poem The People...Yes! once wrote, "What is said, is said...and no sponge can wipe it out..."

In an earlier high school teaching career, a very good friend of mine gave me a coffee coaster for my desk. After all the years...and all the desks that I've inhabited, I look down now and still believe it to be the best motto ever for students of human communication. Yes, there's a bit of a chip from untimely falls, on occassion, but the message still comes through...loud and clear. I share it with you, above.

On Thursday (10-04-07), the Minneapolis Star-Tribune newspaper carried a front page story regarding an untimely presentation gaff that was experienced by Ohio State Representative Matthew Barrett.

It seems he was presenting a high school civics class guest lecture, regarding how laws are created at the Ohio State Legislature, when his memory stick (aka flash drive, aka jump drive, etc) began displaying images of toplesss women from within his PowerPoint visual support material.

To re-visit Carl Sandberg: What's shown is shown, and it can put an end to your presentation rather quickly!

I have been unable to find any report of how the procededings went, following the display of all those female torsos.

I've been chasing as many "Google" references as I my time will allow. One, I found, seemed to say it all... about this story!

The web address is:

http://www.simplydumb.com/2007/10/04/law-making-presentation-goes-topless

Please be careful, when creating your next speech for class or anywhere else, for that matter. I'd hate to have one of my students end up with the story of their presentation in headlines on a website with the name of "Simply Dumb."

I don't even have a category, with that name, included on the grading rubrics I use for viewing student presentations!

- Dan

Will Emoticons Become A Language of Extinction?

2007-09-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

The researchers report that we homosapiens acquired language, via a mutant gene, some 200,000 years ago. At least that is what the August 15, 2002 edition of the Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported.

I also know that languages have been coming and going for generations. Now, The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages and the National Geographic Society are claiming that one spoken language (of the 7,000 estimated) around the world dies every 10 to fourteen days. (Reported via many news agencies, following a September 18, 2007 briefing by these organizations.)

The question that pops up for discussion is "When will (if ever) that happen to emoticons?" Most textbooks define these "smileys" as symbols that can be created using keyboard characters to simulate nonverbal dimensions of a message.

There is a related question as to if the Emoticon language is even counted as one of the (approximately) 7,000 languages "spoken around the world?" Yes, we speak no emoticoneze, that I know of. And, does a language need to be spoken to qualify as a "real" language?

Well, anyway, the news headlines, this week, were blaring out the statements that "Half of all languages face extinction.

The final thought is if the emoticons and the other short-cut texting symbols that, apparently, are in growing abundance will wipe out all languages, as we now know them, from the face of this computer-laded planet? - Dan

WELCOME

2007-08-26T10:06:00.000-07:00

I'm pleased that you've decided to join us.

On August 15, 2002, the Saint Paul Pioneer Press headlined a story about how a mutated gene attacked the human race some 200,000 years ago and gave us all the ability to utilize a unique ability, which we not term "language." We've been communicating with each other, in an ever-growing variety of ways, ever since then.

This site is dedicated to a discussion of how our communication is being encouraged, challenged and changed as we humans move into the 21st Century.

The site has been established, primarily, as an experimental discussion vehicle for students who are enrolled within classes I currently instruct on the campus of Saint Paul College, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Heretofore, we could only enjoy the comments of students from within a particular course of study. Why not make an attempt to allow all students, from all courses and class sections, to have access to a shared forum on these topics which may well change the way we live our lives...as individuals, employees, memebers of families, organizations and the human race, in general?

We welcome your visit and any discussion comments our information may prompt.

Dan Paulnock