Discusses gaps between traditional and virtual organizational environments and suggests that electronic communication training is necessary to lessen the chance for unclear messages, to enhance faceless interactions, and avoid communication overload. Topics include interpersonal skills; verbal and nonverbal communication competencies; written…

Examines if literature for urban youth can reflect reality and validate the significance of the minority individual as well as give them a vision for a better future and a sense that it is attainable. Identifies a strong correlation between the fictional experience as expressed in 20 novels and the characteristics of the urban life of minority…

Precision in language usage can be thought of as an ego boosting activity, a snobbish pastime, an arrogant trait; or it can be interpreted as an attempt to aid audiences in understanding exact meaning, an effort to reduce ambiguity, and/or as a positive role model for others in one's language community. This essay argues that the latter set of…

Behavior change interventions focusing on birth preparedness for pregnant women, their husbands, and adults in the community are common components of community-oriented Safe Motherhood programs in developing countries. Few studies have examined the effectiveness of these interventions, and existing studies are flawed due to study and sample…

Melanoma and skin cancer are largely attributable to over-exposure to solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Reports of UVR levels within media weather forecasts appear to be well received by the public and have good potential to communicate the need for appropriate sun protection to a broad audience. This study describes provision of UVR messages by…

Parody is a form of imitation with the added elements of comedic twists, turns, and exaggerations. To create a parody of something, one has to understand it before beginning to alter it for humorous effect. Parodies are used by teachers of writing, music, and art as a method of educating and evaluating students' understanding of the styles of the…

This article is a narrative exposition of collaborative research performed at Bergamo in October 2001. As a performance of research, we hoped to extend the involvement of audience/participants and to problematize both method and articulation of lives lived (Knowles & Cole, 2001) by using art forms in (re)searching the nature and possibilities of…

The field of museum education has advanced and adapted over the years to meet the changing needs of audiences as determined by new research, national policy, and international events. Educators from Chicago's Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum provide insight into a (somewhat) typical museum education department, especially geared for readers…

In the simplest terms, academic freedom means unfettered scholarly inquiry, a scholar's fundamental right of research, publication, and instruction free of institutional constraint. This indispensable principle of scholarship is the precious gift of independent intellectual judgment--an endowment of open inquiry, free investigation, speculation,…

Across today's youth sports landscape, unsportsmanlike behavior is occurring with alarming frequency. It is happening on the sidelines with out-of-control volunteer coaches and in the stands with overbearing parents. Sadly, this behavior has seeped onto the playing field and produced an ugly string of incidents involving youngsters, too. This…

The purpose of writing is to communicate with an audience. Teachers need to move heaven and earth to be sure that every child knows what it is to become a published author. Criteria for selecting a piece is important. In this article, the author explores why the criteria that children use for selecting poetry to share with an audience differ from…

This study argues for the need to collect data on the interaction of imaginative processes and moral and ethical qualities of narrative. It locates the curricular context of experiential narratives and provides a narrative illustration of key terms from a moral theory. It reports on research in which experiential narratives were told to grades…

The media role model was recently developed to frame how science faculty members can teach their students to write more effectively to lay audiences (14). An Opinion Editorial (Op-Ed) was introduced as a novel assignment for final-year physiology and pharmacology undergraduates. This second phase of this study, reported here, demonstrated the…

Since its unveiling in 2003, professors and college students have flocked to the virtual world of Second Life. Professors use Second Life to hold distance-education classes, saying that communication among students becomes livelier when they assume digital personae. Anthropologists and sociologists see the virtual world as a laboratory for…

Mass media interventions are among the strategies recommended for youth cigarette smoking prevention, but little is known about optimal methods for reaching diverse youth audiences. Grades 4 through 12 samples of youth from four states (n = 1,230) rated smoking-prevention messages in classroom settings. Similar proportions of African American,…