Essay on “Your First Real Taste of Academic Culture” in CHE

My essay, "Your First Real Taste of Academic Culture," on being a first-time graduate assistant appeared in the July 18th Chronicle of Higher Education. The essay was also adopted by The Graduate College at Western Michigan University to include in its training manual for grad students. Originally posted August 18, 2008 at PolicyByBlog...
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Perlmutter Profiled in Lawrence Journal World

I was profiled for my blogging research and experience in the Lawrence Journal World. By the way, I have to say, if there is a Daily Show effect, I am living proof. It is truly amazing how much attention I have gotten from a few minutes of television. Thanks, Mr. Stewart (and Rob Riggle who introduced me)! Originally posted August 18, 2008 at PolicyByBlog ...
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Political Blogs: An Agenda for Research (AEJMC 2008)

I gave a presentation while at the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Conference, Chicago , IL , August 5-09, 2008. David D. Perlmutter. "Political Blogs: An Agenda for Research." Presentation for a panel on "Blogging Politics: Press, Policy, and the Public." [Also serve as discussant.] Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication Conference, Chicago, IL, August 5, 2008. Originally posted August 18, 2008 at PolicyByBlog ...
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State of Visual Communications Research (AEJMC 2008)

Another presentation that touched on political blogs: David D. Perlmutter. "The State of Visual Communications Research." Presentation to a luncheon of the Visual Communication Division of the Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication at the Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Ill., August 8, 2008. Originally posted August 18, 2008 at PolicyByBlog...
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Blogwars & Blogthroughs

In my book, BLOGWARS, I talk about the "Blogthrough," a moment where blogs, due to their unique qualities, come into increased press and public attention and thus further enhance their status. Blogthroughs are often tied to big news events (The South Asian Tsunami, the Virginia Tech Bombings, "Rathergate") where blogs either incite or become part of the story. This chart, prepared with graduate students, Misti McDaniels and Nate Rodriguez, illustrates the "rise of blogs." The chart tracks over time (late 1990s to spring 2007) the number of mentions of the word "weblog" or "blog" in mainstream media (TV, radio, print). Originally posted August 18, 2008 at PolicyByBlog ...
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New Media and Politics

The Obama for America campaign tried something new to achieve an old goal:  sign up and you would get a text message on Saturday morning (apparently very early Saturday morning) announcing his choice for VP.  It's a novel idea, and a clever one.  Yes, getting a text message from Barack Obama--or at least from his campaign--is exciting.  A recipient can feel engaged, however superficially.  But the Obama campaign got something in return:  millions of contacts.  Contacts donate time, money, and word-of-mouth support.  It's worth discussing if this is a trick that will work next time. Meanwhile, Joe Biden sent an email with an embedded video to those contacts over the weekend (make sure you have the proper plug-ins).  CNN and iReport have teamed up with Digg to get viewers' questions answered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).  All of these tactics are innovative and reflective of the new ways people communicate.  But are we missing the bigger slice of the interested...
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Citizen Journalism & the Democratic Convention

A few years ago, I wrote a book on the history of the visualization of warfare. I traced the evolution of pictures of warfare, from Stone Age cave paintings to the then most current imagery--video from the Bosnia war. At the close of the book, I speculated on whether we were at the end of history of visual technology. Reporters were then, in the middle '90s, able through satellite video feeds to show war "live from Ground Zero," a phenomenon that had been first made common during the 1991 Gulf War. I wondered whether a final evolution in war visualization would be when cameras in the helmets of soldiers would show us war live, as it occurs. I failed to predict one of the most significant modern phenomena of the "Internet-digital-satellite" age in which we live, and that is with YouTube, the Internet, and cell phones, almost anyone can report a news event, live, before traditional journalism musters its apparatus...
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Citizen Journalism Workshop: BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2008

If you are a blogger, hope to see you in Vegas! I am helping organize the workshop below. Citizen Journalism Workshop An Exclusive Event at BlogWorld & New Media Expo 2008 Date : Sept. 19, 2008 – 10:00AM – 4:45PM Location : Las Vegas Convention Ctr. PROGRAM OVERVIEW : As blogs take their place as legitimate and respected sources for news, information and analysis, BLOGWORLD & NEW MEDIA EXPO 2008 introduces a new Citizen Journalism Workshop. There are about 112 millions weblogs worldwide, and while many are blogging for casual reasons or for just a short time, others, especially news and information bloggers, are serious about their blogs' success in the greater marketplace of ideas. How can someone "break in" as a news, politics or current events blogger and build a readership, get attention from major bloggers and mass media, and more important perhaps, affect or influence the traditional press agenda, politics, and public opinion? Traditional news media outlets and bloggers have not always had the best...
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