Communication Research

http://www.babysittingjobs.com/blog/signs-your-child-may-be-the-victim-of-bullying-in-school/   Here�s an interesting article on bullying, a topic we're just beginning to introduce into our basic communication textbooks.  Odd that it's taken so long for us to include this considering that it's a communciation activity that has enormous consequences for schools, the workplace, and society in general. This little article focuses on children but the suggestions could just as easily be adapted to workplace bullying or bullying in general. According to a 2011 survey cited here, over 8 million students (12-18 years old) or 32% of all students in that age group reported being bullied in school. The signs to look for, according to this article, are: Unexplained injuries or property damage Signs of aversion to school Difficulty sleeping and/or nightmares Poor academic performance Loss of interest in school activities Isolation Self-destructive behavior

The recent release of Skyfall and the news that Heineken spent $45 million dollars to have James Bond drink its beer makes a perfect introduction to the issue of product placement. The following is a brief discussion of product placement and an exercise I developed for the artifactual communication chapter in my nonverbal communication book�still in manuscript. I thought this might be useful to those teaching the nonverbal communication course or a unit in an introductory course. In much the same way that we make judgments about people on the basis of the products they use (jewelry, furs, and name brands from Prada to Old Navy), we also make judgments about products on the basis of the people who use them, a tendency that has spawned huge product placement efforts by major corporations. Product placement refers simply to the placement of a product�for a fee but without any explicit advertising statements�within a scene of a movie or television show to give it a certain image. The a...

I�ve assembled (and rewrote) some of my blog posts and a variety of other brief pieces into a book that I published with iUniverse, a subsidy publisher (recently acquired by Penguin, a division of Pearson), called 50 Communication Strategies. One of the advantages of publishing a book this way was that I didn�t need an agent. Textbook authors rarely have agents; in fact, I don�t know of one textbook author who does have an agent. The other great advantage is that you don�t have to write a proposal. There are also disadvantages to doing a book this way as well. But, on balance, the procedure was relatively painless and certainly fast moving.   They even set up a website for the book�www.50communicationstrategies.com. In general, I'm very pleased with the finished product.