Media
jtoney | February 28, 2011
Source: "Girls As Inventors," The Huffington Post on the MIT Media Lifelong Kindergarten Group.
While science and technology may be complex and daunting, one thing is quite clear: we need more women to drive innovation and to provide different insights and perspectives compared to men. Tomorrow, March 1st at 11 am EST, The Dow Chemical Company and Scientific American are hosting a Virtual Conference to Engage Scientific Thought Leaders on the Future of Women in Chemistry.
I invite you to listen, learn and add your voice.
According to the website:
60 speakers. 60 minutes.
60 insightful…
jtoney | February 27, 2011
Source: Chris McKay/ Getty Images
My goodness. So much to do over a young pop star's new haircut, when the focus should be on 1) his music and connection to a broad audience {see my concert review here, a shared experience with my young daughter,} and 2) his public advocacy for the dangers of texting and driving.
This is another example of the responsibility of celebrities in conveying important messages to the public. If done properly, these messages can have both broad and effective impact.
Such messages can illuminate, confuse or misinform the public. In this case, when a pop star has…
jtoney | February 27, 2011
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Lily Goldsmith from Valencia CC.
My posting, "Texting As Killer, As Savior" generated strong interest and I wanted to share some more compelling graphic designs from Dr. Robin Landa's Wiley Student Advertising Design Challenge, "Texting and Driving Don't Mix." Which one do you think conveys the message most clearly?
jtoney | February 22, 2011
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Media mogul Arianna Huffington was posed a provocative question:
What if you ruled the world?
Her answer will likely surprise you. Read on if you dare.
From Prospect magazine:
I would order the creation of a high-tech tool that forces us to disengage from our 24/7 connectivity.
Why? "Knowledge has three degrees," wrote the third-century philosopher Plotinus, "opinion, science, illumination. The means or instrument of the first is sense; of the second, dialectic; of the third, intuition." Our always-on culture has contributed much to the first two kinds of knowledge--science and…
jtoney | February 18, 2011
If you've ever wondered how a single neuron fits into the incredibly complex structure of a living brain, I highly recommend this three minute video. Be prepared to be awestruck.
This video won Honorable Mention in Science's 2010 Visualization Challenge featured in the February 18 issue.
According to the paper in Science:
Animator Drew Berry and his neurobiologist colleagues take you on a journey deep inside the mouse brain. The video brings to life data from the Whole Brain Catalog, a massive database of microscopy and other data sets on the mouse brain, under development at the…
jtoney | February 13, 2011
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Remember the "Goody-Gaga" effect per Prof. Boguski at Harvard? Well, here's an example of compelling art as a statement. What is art? What is the message? Maybe that's the point.
Lady Gaga arrives at the Emmy Awards tonight in a giant egg, ready for "rebirth." A reference to "Born This Way"? A provocative way to garner attention? Is it necessary? These are all questions about how to define art, performance and how we define fame.
jtoney | February 12, 2011
Anyone who has thought about teaching and learning amidst the explosive growth of emedia and online social networking should take a look at this video by Prof. Michael Wesch at Kansas State University.
It is an exciting and challenging time to be an educator. I believe that the web can be a two-headed beast that we must nurture and manage with care. It can provide a wealth of useful information as well as a vast wasteland. There is a long path beginning with data and information that can lead to knowledge and wisdom. It is our job to guide those who want to learn through this often…
jtoney | February 11, 2011
Let's face it. Communicating about science and medicine is hard. First, you have to grab attention - an incredible challenge in a 24 hour news cycle with provocative often meaningless sound bites and advertisements, all fine-tuned towards the psychology of the human animal. Messages directed to our appetites for food or sex, gossip, fear, loathing or mockery have proven to work well - really anything that can awaken the zombie within each of us that dampens our senses, stripping away a joie de vivre.
It's like trying to have a serious, heart-felt conversation with someone in a subway…
jtoney | February 10, 2011Dear readers,
With "Dean's Corner" in its third month, I would like to learn about you. Inspired by Ed Yong's thread, I ask that you tell me about yourself, your interest in science and how you got here.
I'm intrigued that readers of this blog are spread far and wide. Here's a snapshot from yesterday's pageviews:
From Ed Yong's thread at Discover:
In the comments below, tell me who you are, what your background is and what you do. What's your interest in science and your involvement with it? How did you come to this blog, how long have you been reading, what do you…
jtoney | February 9, 2011Tonight, I saw this Twitter message from Carl Zimmer, a science writer journalist and reporter for whom I have great respect:
MT @BadAstronomer: Media FAIL *again*. This time, it's HuffPo and Apophis.. http://is.gd/OwyJxk CZ: That's $315 million of AOL FAIL now!
While I remain a dedicated HuffPost blogger, I'm the first to recognize that giant news media organizations can be prone to error sometimes in their zeal to garner a wider audience. After all, provocation is a proven method to get someone's attention.
My Scibling, "Orac" over at Respectful Insolence might appreciate this one.
But…
jtoney | February 9, 2011
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Actor George Clooney is recognized for more than his roles in television and film. He has worked diligently to support human rights issues in regions in crisis such as the Sudan. In The New York Times blog "On the Ground," reporter Nicholas Kristof joins Mr. Clooney to address readers' questions about malaria.
What role do you think celebrities should play in communicating about science and medicine to the public?
While Mr. Clooney cannot offer the perspective of a researcher on malaria, or that of a scientist or physician, he can give a personal view since he contracted the…
jtoney | February 6, 2011
Source. Linkin Park's Chester Bennington / Photo by Ian Witlen.
If the radiance of a thousand suns were to burst at once into the sky, that would be like the splendor of the mighty one... Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. Bhagavad Gita
From the first moment of "Requiem" from A Thousand Suns, ripples of peripatetic paroxysms began to spread across the sold out Madison Square Garden arena the evening of February 4. Peripatetic, because the source of LP's music was dynamic, shifting from percussion to keyboards to the trading lead rapid-fire vocals of rapping Mike Shinoda to…
jtoney | February 1, 2011As the world watches history in progress in Egypt, here is an example of how technology can facilitate the voices of the people in Egypt. Twitter messages have played important roles in a variety of political and human rights issues around the globe. Let us all hope for a peaceful outcome and that the Egyptians are heard.
Employees of new Google Aquisition SayNow built an application that converts voicemails into tweets. By dialing one of several international phone numbers, Egyptians can tweet via voicemail message or listen to other people's "tweets." The messages are posted with hashtag…
jtoney | January 30, 2011
The New York Times Sunday Magazine published a brilliant essay today by Executive Editor Bill Keller, "The Boy Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest" that describes an evolving relationship between news media outlets and their source and the complex balancing act between the freedom of press and a government's responsibility to protect. It portrays a fascinating behind the scenes view of how several normally competing news organizations worked collaboratively with the source, Julian Assange, to make sense of mountains of disparate, arcane pieces of data in multiple forms.
One of the major sources…
sastyk | January 25, 2011Paul Kingsnorth has a brilliant article on what underlies the disproportion in attention between flooding in the Global South and Global North, and what it says about how we see the world:
This imperial narrative morphed, after the death of the Western empires, into the narrative of 'development' that we still cleave to today (I recommend this explanation of the process). Now, the world is divided up into 'developed' countries and 'developing' countries. Developed countries are largely white. Developing countries are largely brown. The latter are assumed to be on an inevitable trajectory that…
jtoney | January 25, 2011
Tonight, President Obama will give his State of the Union address at 9 pm with a new twist: using the latest online technologies, including streaming visual aids, with charts and statistics relevant to his comments. What a wonderful way to engage and educate the public!
See you online.
From Senior Advisor to the President David Plouffe:
Good morning,
Tonight at 9 p.m. EST, President Obama will deliver the State of the Union Address and outline his vision for putting aside the politics that divide us and moving forward to create jobs, up our game to out-compete in the global economy, and…
jtoney | January 23, 2011Note to readers: This report of a supposed viral pandemic is entirely fictional but not inconceivable, and is for entertainment purposes only (depending upon your sensibilities.)
A new viral pandemic may be on its way. To date, physical symptoms have been benign. While the method of transmission, origin and therapies are as yet unknown, symptoms are consistent with a new viral strain including mild persistent fever and in some cases delusions and inexplicable behavior directed - oddly enough - towards media outlets. Susceptibility appears to be universal; no resistant individuals have…
hrynyshyn | January 15, 2011From the wonderful "Overheard in a newsroom" service:
Reporter doing a phone interview: "Please slow down, professor. You've been researching this topic for a decade. I've been researching it since lunchtime."
jtoney | January 13, 2011Just a thought regarding civility in the media. This road sign in Tucson, Arizona was just taken down today (yes, January 13) - thank goodness, after President Obama's speech last night. Is this a coincidence? Let us hope this could be the final example of using such provocation towards a purpose that seems counter productive - or is it? I agree, readers, this is becoming tiresome.
jtoney | January 12, 2011As reported on a blog for The New York Times, only three elected members of Congress have signed the "Civility Pledge":
I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior.
I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them.
I will stand against incivility when I see it.
Could my fellow Sciblings sign such a pledge? I hope so. This should be easy. Let us inform and not fuel the fires for the extremists, regardless of ideology.
From The New York Times blog "The Caucus"
Just as Americans are debating whether untamed political rhetoric inspired the shooting of a congresswoman…