Communication - February, 2007
from Jerry Baldasty, chair

[Download a Microsoft Word version of the February, 2007 "Communication"]

Save the Date

February 13: Frank Blethen, Ames Lecture Kane Hall, 6pm

April 11: Scholarship Awards

April 26-28: WA Weekend Alumni Event (Time Capsule)

May 19: Crowell Fund Run, Greenlake

May 31: Excellence in Communication Awards

June 7: Department Graduation Celebration HUB Ballroom, 11:30-2:30 pm

Research

Publications and Works in Progress

Tony Docan & Carol Docan (2007). Infidelity on the Internet: Hidden double standards and the differing views of women and men. Communication Quarterly, 55. Manuscript accepted for publication.

Tony Docan (2006). Positive and negative incentives in the classroom: An analysis of grading systems and student motivation. Journal of Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 6, 21-40.

Kathy Hall (2006) had a book review published of Stuart Oskamp and P. Wesley Schultz's “Attitudes and Opinions.” Technical Communication, 53(3), 356-357.

Phil Howard just signed a contract with Routledge to co-edit The Handbook of Internet Politics with Andy Chadwick at UCL-Royal Holloway. Several department faculty and advanced graduate students will be contributing to the collection.

Richard Kielbowicz (2006). The law and mob law in attacks on antislavery newspapers, 1833-1860. Law and History Review, 24, 559-600.

Valerie Manusov and Miles L. Patterson are editors of the recently published: The SAGE Handbook of Nonverbal Communication (2006).

Valerie Manusov is completing the 4th edition of her interpersonal textbook, Interpersonal Communication: A Goals-based Approach, with co-authors Daniel Canary and Michael Cody, for Bedford/St. Martins press.

Patricia Moy. Pluralistic ignorance and non-attitudes in Wolfgang Donsbach and Michael Traugott's forthcoming Handbook of Public Opinion Research.

Patricia Moy and John Gastil. (2006). Predicting deliberative conversation: The impact of discussion networks, media use, and political cognitions. Political Communication, 23, 443-460.

Crispin Thurlow's paper, The Uses and Representations of Local Languages in Tourist Destinations (2003, co-authored with Adam Jaworski) was recently selected for inclusion in a new volume intended to represent the work of scholars in the field of Discourse Studies. Already in production with Sage, this volume is being edited by the internationally renowned discourse analyst Teun van Dijk.

Conference Papers

Tema Milstein (November 2006). “‘Somethin’ Tells Me It’s All Happening at the Zoo:’ Discourse, Power, and Conservationism in the Contemporary Zoo.” Tema’s paper was awarded First Place Top Competitive Paper in the Environmental Communication Division at the National Communication Association Conference. She dedicated the award to the late Deborah Kaplan, who served on her committee and provided invaluable input on the paper.

Penelope Sheets (November, 2006). "Presidential Religious Speech: An historical and legal context for the use of religious language in State of the Union addresses." Penelope’s paper was awarded Top Student Paper in the Religious Communication Division at the National Communication Association Conference.

Dru Anthony Williams (November, 2006) "Staying Committed to the Mission: Epideictic Argument and George W. Bush’s Performance in the 2004 Presidential Debates." Dru’s paper was awarded the Robert G. Gunderson Award for Top Student Paper in Public Address at the National Communication Association Conference.

Georgia Aiello, Tom Dobrowolsky, and Irina Gendelman (2006, October). “Urban Archives: The City as Spectacle, Laboratory, and Text.” Place Matters: Seeking Equity in a Diverse Society Conference, University of Washington.

Jerry Baldasty and Kristin Gustafson (2006, October). “The Role of the Press in Placemaking: Seattle’s International Examiner and the Construction of the International District in the 1970’s.” Place Matters: Seeking Equity in a Diverse Society Conference, UW.

Enrique Bonus (2006, October). “Sense of Place Theme Session.” Place Matters: Seeking Equity in a Diverse Society Conference, UW.

Brandon Bosch and Patricia Moy (2006, November). “Sourcing globalization: New York Times' Coverage of NAFTA”. Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research Conference.

Tony Giffard and Nancy Van Leuven (2006, November). "The New Dimension of South-South and South-North Communications." The International Conference on Communication for Development. This conference was sponsored by the Government of Brazil. The paper examines the online readership and print media usage of development-oriented news reports in 24 rich and poor nations around the world.

Tony Giffard and Nancy Van Leuven (2006, October). “Five Views of Development: How News Agencies Cover the Millennium Development Goals” This paper was presented at the World Congress on Communication for Development (sponsored by the World Bank) in Rome. The congress brought together hundreds of communication professionals, policymakers, development practitioners, civil society representatives and academics from around the world to share experiences and best practices in this growing field.

Tony Giffard (2006). “News Agency Reporting on the World Summit on the Information Society.” World Summit on the Information Society Conference. This conference was sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and took place in Rome.

Funding and Awards

Crispin Thurlow has been awarded a Society of Scholars research fellowship by the UW's Simpson Center for the Humanities. The award runs through the academic year 2007-2008 and consists of released time from teaching two courses enabling Crispin to devote his time to his new research project on elite global mobilities and the discursive production of luxury, privilege and class inequality.

Crispin Thurlow and Miriam Kahn (UW Anthropology) were awarded a $90,000 grant from The Boeing Company in September 2006 for the first phase of a research project titled "The Cultures of Flying." During Autumn quarter 2006, Professors Thurlow and Kahn led a team of senior graduate students from both Anthropology and Communication (Giorgia Aiello and Irina Gendelman) in developing a program of ethnographic research with a view to informing Boeing's future design development. This innovative collaboration with one of the Pacific Northwest's largest employers received special mention in UW President Mark Emmert's annual address in October:

Phil Howard was awarded a Canada Research Grant in the amount of $8,300 for his project “Information Access & Telecommunications Policy in Canada and the US.”

Laura Crowell Fund

It’s that time of year again to start planning for the Laura Crowell Fund Run in May at Greenlake park. The group of 4 undergraduate Crowell team event organizers will be presenting their business plan to graduate students and faculty on Tuesday, March 27, 11:00-12:00 in Communication room 126. So, make room on your calendar to attend the meeting. The team really appreciates getting feedback.

Many thanks to faculty and staff who contributed to the Crowell Fund in the last part of 2006: Lance Bennett, David Domke, Randy Beam, Tony Giffard, Mike Henderson, Richard Kielbowicz, Taso Lagos, Roger Simpson, Don Wulff, Barbara Warnick, Sharon Redeker, David Sherman, Jerry Baldasty, and Victoria Sprang.

Thanks, too, to those who made contributions earlier in the year: Leah Ceccarelli, Lisa Coutu, Dave Domke, John Gastil, Kathy Gill, Mike Henderson, Judy Howard, Phil Howard, Ralina Joseph, Ricahrd Kielbowicz, Taso Lagos, Patricia Moy, Gerry Philipsen, Karen Rathe, Nancy Rivenburgh, Crispin Thurlow, Barbara Warnick, Patty Fortine, Carolyn Black, Nancy Dosmann, Kathy Hall, Patricia Humphrey, Jean Miller, Georgia Mosher, Sharon Redeker, Carla Rickerson, Cathy Schwartz, David Sherman, Meg Spratt, Jerry Baldasty, and Victoria Sprang.

Contributions from faculty and staff qualify for a 1-1 match from the College. In 2006, we set a record for contributions to Crowell: $6,639. With the matching funds, we will have raised more than $13,000 this year for graduate student travel. (Earlier contribution levels: 2005, $6,162; in 2004, $4,065, and in 2003, $5,070). Many thanks to all who contributed.

People

Congratulations to David Domke, who has been named Washington professor of the year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The last time a University of Washington faculty member received this award was in 1998.

John Gastil and John Schaufelberger (Construction Management) will be speaking at the LCVI/ADVANCE Winter 2007 Leadership Workshop on February 22, from 8:45am -12:30pm in Communication room 126. The topic of their discussion will be “Effective Ways to Change and Use Current Departmental Structures.”

Phil Howard and Simon Werrett (History) are teaching an undergraduate course winter quarter: “Humanities 202: When Technologies are New.” The objectives for this course are to teach students about the dynamics of scientific exploration and social change; give students cultural literacy and practical familiarity with new technologies; and inspire students to develop their own sophisticated critiques about the role of technology and innovation in society.

During fall quarter 2006 Tema Milstein taught a course she designed, titled: "Culture, Communication, and the Human Relationship with Nature" in the Comparative History of Ideas Program. Guest speakers included Environmental Journalist Seth Zuckerman and Philosophy and Public Affairs Professor Andrew Light.

Patricia Moy recently was appointed Associate Editor of Public Opinion Quarterly, the flagship journal of public opinion research and a leading journal in communication and political science. She holds key elected positions in various professional associations, currently serving as head of ICA's Political Communication Division, Conference Chair of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), and the Standards Committee Chair of the World Association for Public Opinion Research (WAPOR).

David Domke, John Gastil, Patricia Moy, and Nancy Rivenburgh were reappointed as adjunct faculty in the Political Science department.

Gerald Baldasty and Ralina Joseph were reappointed as adjunct faculty in the Women Studies Department.

Tony Chan was appointed for two years as Consulting Editor of Asian Affairs: An American Review, a refereed journal based in Washington, D.C.

Lynne Baab's new book, Fasting: Spiritual Freedom Beyond our Appetites (Downers Grove: Inter Varsity Press), received a starred review in Publishers Weekly. The review is posted on Lynne's website: www.lynnebaab.com.

Crispin Thurlow has been selected by the College of Arts and Sciences to teach a Fall 2007 Discovery Seminar titled “The Tourist Gaze: Understanding Global Communication.” Emphasizing interdisciplinary study, Discovery Seminars are intensive, month-long classes which give incoming freshmen a chance to jump-start their freshman experience. Thurlow's seminar, arising from his own research, will offer students a way to explore the human consequences and communicative implications of globalization by giving them a unique chance to study the role language, visual imagery and social interaction play in tourism as a truly global cultural industry.

The Rome Center Study Abroad program has 26 students (20 women and 6 men) enrolled for the Winter Quarter at the UW Rome Center. Program Director Tony Giffard is teaching a course on European Union information society and audio-visual policy. Mike Henderson, senior lecturer in our Journalism program, is teaching a course on travel literature and travel writing which emphasizes the merits of discovering and conveying information about the people, places and cultures of Western Europe. Students are learning about the cuisine and cinema of Italy in addition to keeping travel journals and writing extensively about their adventures. Some of the guest speakers include travel writers who are in Rome (tentatively Carol Pucci of The Seattle Times) and other journalists (invitation extended to Sylvia Poggioli, the Rome-based Europe correspondent for National Public Radio). The Seattle Times has agreed to publish in its travel section articles written by the students. In addition, students are taking a course in Roman Civilization (taught on-site in museums, art galleries and historic places in and around Rome) and have instruction in Italian, conducted by local faculty. This is the fourth time the popular study-abroad program has been offered.

Patricia Moy will be returning to Paris this summer to teach another Exploration Seminar, “The Past, Present, and Future of Public Opinion.” She and graduate student Andrea Hickerson will be taking 20 undergraduates from across the UW to learn about various historical and contemporary perspectives on public opinion. They will be visiting historical sites and interacting with representatives from public opinion and market research companies as well as media organizations. Given the venue, students also will be studying art as expressions of public opinion.

Jerry Baldasty, as chair of the Faculty Council on Instructional Quality and director of the UW Teaching Academy, is part of the UW’s new Teaching and Learning Consortium. Other organizations involved include the Center for Instructional Development and Research (Don Wulff), the Office of Educational Assessment, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Catalyst, and UW Libraries. The Consortium is planning a series of teaching workshops for faculty and graduate students during spring quarter. Doug Underwood is also a member of the Faculty Council on Instructional Quality, and is working on the council’s assessment committee.

Crispin Thurlow, Penelope Sheets, and Peg Achterman are heading up a directed research seminar winter quarter with a select group of undergraduate students, putting together material for a fifty-year time capsule to be sealed as part of the UW’s Washington Weekend in April, 2007. The students are meeting once a week to create content which will depict the current communication era as well as predict what interpersonal communication, mass communication and communication technologies will look like in 2057.

Tema Milstein is thesis adviser for Jennifer Estes and Brett Zimmerman, UW Comparative History of Ideas seniors. Estes is studying the discourse of international volunteers at a South African primate rehabilitation center. Zimmerman is looking at experiences of women who work in extreme outdoor conditions, such as forest firefighters, and their particular relationships with nature.

Kate Dunsmore served as editor for the UW Physics Department annual newsletter, producing articles on quantum entanglement, precision gravity tests of string theory, and the role of supercomputers in physics research.

Nancy Van Leuven attended the first World Congress on Communication for Development in Rome on October 25-27. Sponsored by the World Bank and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the conference was the first global opportunity for academia, practitioners, and policy-makers to meet and discuss issues relating to development work.

Lynne Baab accepted a position as a lecturer in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, beginning July 2007. The position is half-time for three years and Lynne anticipates continuing to write in her free time outside of teaching.

Valerie Manusov became the Chair of the Nonverbal Communication Division at the National Communication Association Conference in San Antonio in November.

Phil Howard had two outside visitors to "Basic Concepts of New Media" class this year. Jenna Burrell came from Intel headquarters in Portland to talk about communications infrastructure in Ghana, and Raghu Simha came from Microsoft to talk about the organization of the software producers behind the MSN Messenger application that many people use for online chat.

Tracey Lovejoy, a research ethnographer at Microsoft, spoke to Gina Neff’s Com 302 "Cultural Impact of New Technologies" in November. She talked about the design process for new communication technologies and the ways in which designers work to incorporate into products users' attitudes, values, and practices.

Gina Neff was a final plenary speaker at the Forum on Labor, Knowledge and the Economy sponsored by the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies in October.

Gina Neff was a participant in a recent working group for a Ford Foundation sponsored project on "The Creative Campus." Hosted by the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt, this working was charged with designing ways to map creative production on college campuses and presented its findings to university presidents, provosts and deans from around the country.

The following Department of Communication faculty and graduate students gave presentations at the WISER Brownbag Series on Race, Ethnicity, and Sexuality: Faculty member, Ralina Joseph (December, 2006), gave a presentation titled, “Do Post-Race Representations Create Racial Harmony or Racial Smokescreens?” Graduate student, Andrea Hickerson (January, 2007), gave a talk titled, “Assessing the Difference Critique of Deliberation: Gender, Emotion and the Jury Experience.” Additionally, graduate student Irena Gendelman (January, 2007) gave a presentation titled, “Making Space: Discursive Material Production of Heritage.”

Amoshaun Toft helped to organize an unofficial hearing with the FCC on November 30, 2006. The hearing was held at the downtown Seattle Public Library, and several hundred local citizens had the opportunity to present oral testimony on proposed rule changes that the FCC is currently considering. The hearing supplemented the few official hearings that the FCC has been holding in other parts of the country. UW Communication faculty members Kathy Gill, and Doug Underwood were among those testifying. The Department of Communication co-sponsored the hearing along with Reclaim the Media, The Seattle Times, KBCS 91.3fm Community Radio, and the Minority Executive Directors Association. The following graduate students in the Department of Communication also helped procure supplies for the hearing: Ted Coopman, Louisa Edgerly, Clifford Tatum, Chris Wells, and Lea Werbel.

Tony Chan’s films will be screened at the Western Regional International Health Conference on Saturday, February 17, from 2-3:30pm in the HUB Auditorium. Afterward, Tony will lead a discussion about the films. Tony will also participate in the media/journalism panel at 4:00-5:30pm. Post production for the 4 part series was courtesy of the Media Lab, Department of Communication, and Video & TV Technologies, UW with Dr. Tony Chan, producer, director, writer, and discussant. The documentaries are:

"American Nurse" (1992) profiles Lily Lee Adams, an Asian American combat nurse from New York who worked in triage at Cu Chi, South Vietnam. As one of the few Asian American nurses, she was subjected to provocative and complex racial and gender experiences while working as a nurse. This documentary aired on PBS, KCTS-TV, Seattle in 1993 and the Military Channel in 1994. It also screened at film festivals in New York (1993), Olympia (1993) and at the American Museum of Natural History, New York (1993). It won an award at the Hiroshima International Film & Video Festival in 1993.

"Lily Goes Home" (2007) is the last of the 4 part series on Asian Americans and Vietnam. This documentary profiles Lily Lee Adams after her tour of duty in Vietnam. It chronicles how she dealt with issues of resumption and readaptation to the United States after a year in an Asian combat zone, Asian American post traumatic stress disorder, the Iran Crisis, and other maladies. The film also includes one of her poems about being a combat nurse.

Colloquia

The Department of Communication, in conjunction with the Departments of Economics and Geography, hosted Nobel-Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz on October 17, 2006. Stiglitz spoke to an audience of over 400 people about the ways in which globalization and economic integration could be made to work for the world's poor.

The Department of Communication and the Pacific Northwest Newspaper Association are cosponsoring the American Press Institute’s Newspaper Next Workshop. Built on the groundbreaking concepts of Harvard innovation expert Dr. Clayton Christensen, Newspaper Next is tailor-made for newspaper people and the unique needs and circumstances of newspaper organizations. The workshop explores understanding the forces eroding the newspaper business and new ways to see and tap the vast realms of opportunity facing the news business.

The Global Health Resource Center, International Health Program, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, UW Libraries, and the Department of Communication sponsored the showing of The Agronomist, a film by Jonathan Demme, in November, 2006. The Agronomist is a profile of Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist Jean Dominique. The World Health Cinema film series was created to provide a interdisciplinary, interactive forum for the UW community to learn more about global health issues, particularly related to this year's UW Common Book, Mountains Beyond Mountains.

Barry Wellman visited the UW on Friday, December 8, 2006 to give a talk titled, “What is the Internet Doing to Community -- and Vice Versa?” Wellman learned about social networks and computing as a Harvard grad student in the mid-1990s. Now S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto, he directs NetLab -- a network of a score of faculty and students interested in the intersection of social, community and communication networks. Wellman founded the International Network for Social Network Analysis in 1976. Wellman's visit was made possible by the Information School, the Department of Communication at UW, and Microsoft Research (the Open Source Software Lab and the Communities Technology Group).

The Department of Communication, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate School, the Dart Center, the Simpson Center, and The Daily sponsored the Safe Zone Workshop in October 2006. The workshop was led by staff from the Q Center. The Safe Zone Project, through education, advocacy, visibility, and skill development, supports faculty and staff to become allies for bisexual, lesbian, gay, queer, two-spirit, transgender, intersex, questioning, same-gender-loving, and differently oriented students and colleagues. The Project is designed to radically reduce prejudice and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression at the University of Washington campus and create a safe and affirming campus.

Alumni

Communication department alum, Robert W. McChesney (M.A. 1986; Ph.D 1989), spoke at the National Conference for Media Reform in Memphis on January 12-14. McChesney, who is President of Free Press, the organizer of the conference, was joined by Rev. Jesse Jackson, Amy Goodman, Bill Moyers, and Jane Fonda all of whom also spoke at the event. For more information about this organization or this event, see: www.freepressnet.

Amy Rolph accepted a permanent position at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Thomas Johnson, who received his Ph.D at University of Washington, in the School of Communications, was appointed as the Marshall and Sharleen Formby Regents Professor in Convergent Media at Texas Tech University.

Each year, four alumni of the College of Arts and Sciences are selected to receive the A&S Distinguished Alumni Awards, one from each division. The distinguished alumni for 2007 are Bryan Monroe, Tiina Nunnally, Sharon Ramey, and Marcus Tsutakawa. They will be honored at the Celebration of Distinction Award Dinner, Thursday, May 17, 2007. These four outstanding individuals were chosen from over 150,000 alumni of the College. Bryan Monroe (Communications, BA 1987) is currently Vice President and Editorial Director for Ebony and Jet magazines. His 16-year career with Knight Rider newspapers included leadership during Hurricane Katrina, enabling the Biloxi paper to publish continuously through the storm and its aftermath. Recipient of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize Gold Medal for Public Service and multiple honors for his abundant community contributions, Monroe was recognized by Presstime magazine as a top American journalist under 40 and named as one of the country's "Media Elite" by Mediaweek. As the first black editor of the UW Daily and an active alumnus of the Department of Communication, Monroe has mentored students and led classes as well as provided invaluable advice on diversity issues in journalism.

Alumni Workshops

COMMUNICATION 2.0
The series of workshops (see below) focus on the latest developments in the communication world. Experts will cover the topics of digital asset management, digital photography and blogging. The workshops were developed by members of the Department of Communication’s alumni club, and will be offered in partnership with the Association for Women in Communication, and the UW Alumni Association. The fee: General public $100 per class, $250 for series; discounts for UWAA and AWC members.

The workshops are:

Saturday, February 10, 2007
“Frankly My Dear, I Need a DAM”—An Introduction to Digital Asset Management
Learn how to determine your DAM needs, requirements, and budget, analyze a range of software solutions and explore the world of “meta-data,” which is how we make non-textual files searchable. Instructors: Kathy Gill, M.S. Senior Lecturer, UW Department of Communication’s Digital Media program and Dan Lamont, M.C. media consultant and photojournalist with presentations from Corbis Digital Asset Management, Adobe and others.

Saturday, March 3, 2007
Digital Photography—a Survival Kit
This hands-on workshop will teach essential knowledge for communications professionals who are not professional photographers but need to manage production and use of digital images—and often must make the pictures themselves. Instructors: Dan Lamont, M.C., media consultant and photojournalist, and Don Wilson, M.C., award winning corporate/industrial photographer.

Saturday, March 24, 2007
“I Blog, Therefore I Am” — An Introduction to Blogging
Blogging is one of the hottest buzzwords in communication today, whether we’re talking about journalism, public relations, politics or marketing. Learn what makes blogs different from other Web site forms, analyze a variety of blogging technologies and hosts and explore how local businesses and media companies are incorporating blogs into their communication mix. Instructor: Kathy E. Gill, M.S., Senior Lecturer, UW Department of Communication’s Digital Media program

Career Workshops for Undergraduate Students

The following are several career workshops that were offered to undergraduate students this winter. The speakers were alumni of the Department of Communication.

“Finding the Right Public Relations & Event Planning Jobs” Speakers: Mikki Choman, BA, Communications, Journalism 2006; Lucas Welch, BA, Communications 2004; Brien Lautman, BA, Communications 1981.

“Careers in Event Planning,” Speaker: Dianna Brealey, BA, Communications, 1996. The moderator was Whitney Hall, Communication student.

“Careers in Advertising” Speakers: Larry Asher, BA, Communications 1973, Tod Visdal, BA, Communications 1994.

“Careers in Communication and Journalism” Speakers included: Teresa Wipple, former managing editor, ParentMap magazine; Janet I. Tu, Reporter, The Seattle Times. The moderator was Communication student Whitney Hall.

Many thanks to the Workshop Coordinator and alumna Kathleen Miller (’87 and Department of Communication Hall of Fame member)

Western States Communication Conference

Valerie Manusov is preparing to host the Western States Communication Association's annual conference Feb. 16-20 at the Seattle Renaissance Hotel. Faculty, graduate students, and undergraduate students from the Communication Department will be working at registration, running a set of fun activities, staffing an information booth, and organizing AV needs, among other things. Valerie currently has three undergraduate students working as event planning interns, and she is teaching a larger course on event planning for the undergraduates who will be working at the conference. The department plans to host a party there for current and former graduate students and faculty, which we hope many of you will attend.

Communication Honors Students

The Communication honors students presented posters of their work-in-progress in December 2006. The thesis topics include:

The persistence of homelessness.
News coverage environmental issues.
Participatory development in Latin America.
Value hierarchy in contemporary argumentation.
The use of the Internet by a transnational social movement.
Taiwanese students' media use & attitudes toward China.
The discursive construction of luxury and eliteness on high-end hotel websites.
Ideological correspondence between letters to the editor and editorials on the Iraq war.
Students' perceptions of female political candidates.

Colloquia

Dr. Bettina Aptheker, professor of Women's Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz, was in Seattle to give a talk on her new book, Intimate Politics: How I Grew up Red, Fought for Free Speech, and Became a Feminist Rebel at Elliott Bay Book Co. on January 20. She is also gave a seminar, "Bearing Witness" on January 22 at UW in Communications 126. The event was co-sponsored by the Department of Communication, English, Political Science, and Women Studies, and the University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race, and Sexuality.

In the Media: Department Professors and Alumni authors

The cover story of the December 2006 issue of the UW Alumni Association’s Columns features "100 Top Books by 100 UW Authors.” Of these top 100, 11 come are faculty or alumni in the Department of Communication. The following are a list of the authors, book titles, and excerpts from the magazine.

Ames, William, Unionism or Hearst: The Seattle Post-Intelligencer Strike of 1936 (with Roger Simpson, ’59, ’73)
Two UW communication professors tell the story of how fewer than 35 newspaper employees (with the help of Teamsters boss Dave Beck) forced William Randolph Hearst’s empire to recognize its first Newspaper Guild union.

Baldasty, Gerald, ’72, ’78 Vigilante Newspapers: A Tale of Sex, Religion, and Murder in the Northwest
Communication Professor Baldasty explores an early 1900s scandal that included bizarre religious rites, a charismatic cult leader, two murders and a yellow press that covered every salacious detail. “Highly engaging history”—Seattle Times

Caletti, Deb, ’85 Honey, Baby, Sweetheart
A master of the young adult novel, Caletti tells the story of a teenage girl named Ruby and her troublesome crush—a wealthy, charismatic boy from up the block who also happens to be a jewelry thief. Honey, Baby, Sweetheart was a finalist for the 2004 National Book Award for young adult literature.

Caple, Jim, ’97 The Devil Wears Pinstripes
This former Daily editor, now a writer for ESPN.com, turns his wit on the Bronx Bombers in a hilarious skewering of a team that may have won 26 World Series—but also lost 13. “Righteous haters of the New York Yankees finally have our very own Bible.”—Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Domke, David God Willing? Political Fundamentalism in the White House, the “War on Terror” and the Echoing Press
According to this communication professor, President George W. Bush turned to “political fundamentalism” after 9/11 to capitalize on fear felt by many Americans.

Egan, Timothy, ’81 The Good Rain
To many readers, this is the definitive book about the Pacific Northwest—its history, climate and vibe. As Columns went to press, Egan’s latest work, The Worst Hard Time, was a 2006 National Book Award finalist (subsequently, Egan won the National Book Award).

Horsey, David, ’75 From Hanging Chad to Baghdad
This is not a book you’ll find in the seat pockets of Air Force One—it contains nearly 200 pages of scathing political cartoons from the Seattle P-I’s two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner.

Merry, Robert, ’68 Taking on the World: Joseph and Stewart Alsop—Guardians of the American Century
In this masterful double-biography, Merry shows how two influential newspaper columnists were shaped by the events of the ’20s and ’30s, and how their writings helped shape the rest of the century.

Mochizuki, Ken, ’76 Baseball Saved Us
“One day, my dad looked out at the endless desert and decided then and there to build a baseball field.” Baseball Saved Us is the story of a Japanese American boy coping with life in an internment camp. According to the New York Times, Mochizuki “captures the confusion, wonder and terror of a small child in such stunning circumstances with convincing understatement.”

Nalder, Eric, ’68 Tankers Full of Trouble: The Perilous Journey of Alaskan Crude
Based on his 1,200-mile voyage from Alaska to Washington aboard the Arco Anchorage, Tankers Full of Trouble offers an even more comprehensive look at the oil-shipping business than Nalder’s six-part Seattle Times series of the same title, which won the Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting in 1990.

Underwood, Doug When M.B.A.s Rule the Newsroom
More than a decade ago, Communication Professor Underwood warned about how planning, packaging and profitability are replacing long-held standards of journalism in American newsrooms. “That this is being reshaped by ‘marketers and managers,’ not always for the best, is indisputable, and Underwood has some useful things to say about the process.”—Washington Post.

Dart Center

The Dart Foundation has generously agreed to increase the Dart Center grant for FY 2007 by $100,000 over previous commitments, for a total of $1,340,000. Combined with cost controls this ensures that the Center will eliminate its deficit over the next 12 months while continuing to grow core programs and innovative projects. Major recent activities of the Center include:

2006 Dart Center Ochberg Fellows Program, Hollywood, CA., November 1-8. Eight mid-career journalists from around the U.S. as well as Germany and Australia attended a week of briefings, seminars and discussions.

International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Annual Conference, Hollywood, CA, November 4-7: Three panels sponsored by the Dart Center, covering reporting on domestic violence; emotional injury to war reporters; and child soldiers; also a Pre-Meeting Institute for clinicians interested in collaborating effectively with media.

New Dart Center publications: R. Teichroeb, "Covering Children and Trauma"; E. Newman and R. Franks, "Child Clinicians and the Media."

Establishing partnership with Bournemouth University Media School, UK

Trauma training for Indonesian journalists, Melbourne

In addition to the Center's ongoing activities (Dart Award, website etc), several major initiatives are planned for the first half of calendar 2007, including:

Seminar for top-level UK news executives on reporting terrorism, Windsor Castle, January 2007

Transatlantic conference on reporting war crimes, Irish Centre for Human Rights/National University of Ireland, May 2007

Retreat and seminar for leading Australian journalists, March 2007

News from Barbara Warnick

“I'm settled into my job as chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Pittsburgh. The Department has lost a number of faculty over the past 5 years, and we are authorized to fill three positions this year and others in the future, so we are all very busy with that. My book, Rhetoric Online will be published by Peter Lang Publishing in February 2007.

“My husband Michael works in the Division of Gastroenterology at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He has become involved with the set up of electronic medical records for his division and is assisting with the IT requirements for various research projects in the Division.

“The thing we most enjoy about Pittsburgh (aside from the people who are exceedingly friendly and kind) is the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra which is excellent, and we expect to fully enjoy the remainder of the season's concerts.

“We miss our friends and neighbors in Seattle greatly and look forward to seeing them again when we are back, probably next summer. It was great seeing everyone at NCA!”

In the Media: Kirsten Foot

Oct. 25, 2006 University Week
Online activism may make the difference on Election Day
By Peter Lewis

More and more, Congressional candidates are turning to the Web as a tool to mobilize their base and build credibility with undecided voters, according to findings in a new book by a University of Washington researcher.

"We're seeing a slow-but-steady increase in Web mobilizing," particularly in competitive House and Senate races, said Kirsten Foot, an associate professor of communication.

Her just-released book, Web Campaigning (MIT Press), co-authored with Steven Schneider, political science professor at the State University of New York Institute of Technology, is a comprehensive look at cyber-campaigning's roots and future. A digital supplement is publicly available at http://mitpress.mit.edu/webcampaigning.

Gone are the days, Foot said, when congressional campaigns could build a Web site in the summer of an election year and leave it untouched until November. As part of that shift, campaigns no longer see their sites as cul-de-sacs. Instead, they have embraced a more dynamic approach, linking to other sites as part of a larger "Web sphere."

Control of the next congress and, in two years, the next president, could hinge partly on who does a more effective job at harnessing the Web's mobilizing power, particularly as the influence of traditional media wane, Foot said.

The authors studied more than 3,000 campaign sites erected for two presidential primary elections and three general elections between 2000 and 2004. They interviewed campaign officials, Web site producers, and site visitors.

The book traces the increasingly sophisticated use of the Web to build support through databases to connect and spur volunteers to host rallies and other events, contribute money, and write letters to the editor, among other activities.

The interactive nature of the Web is such that there's a constant stream of action "affecting how the campaign's message is being interpreted and whether a campaign's strategies are going to be rendered futile because they're gimmicky -- or given traction because there's a critical mass of people on the Web who say, 'You know, that's really cool and that's going to advance the political issues I'm concerned about.' "

The research also shows that campaigns are adept at monitoring and copying each other's online moves, Foot said. The book quotes the campaign manager for an independent congressional candidate in 2000 who explained:

"We want to be able to match what other campaigns are doing, so we consistently monitor their Web sites to see what they have up…It's almost a competition with other campaigns. You want to make sure you're matching what they have up…and in some cases, maybe we could take the lead."

Foot recounted how Howard Dean raised the bar when he came out of nowhere to mount a strong campaign using the Web in 2004. When Dean faltered, Kerry and Bush picked up where he left off. Both understood, Foot said, that they "could not have launched credible presidential campaigns without co-opting the tactics that Dean had pioneered."

Two years later, we're seeing the same intensity move "down ballot," with U.S. senatorial candidates Mike McGavick and Maria Cantwell embracing "all-out" mobilizing strategies, Foot said. They've done so, she added, because they otherwise wouldn't be perceived as "front-runner, tech-savvy candidates for Washington State."

Building online forums, e-postcards, databases and other types of mobilizing structures into Web sites -- and keeping them updated -- take significantly more time than constructing simpler Web sites. But part of the potential pay off for making the investment is the attraction such features hold for a special breed of the voting citizenry dubbed the "influentials" because of their ability to affect others, as documented by researchers at the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, housed at George Washington University.

The influencers' role could become increasingly critical, Foot suggested, as mainstream media gradually lose audience share to other news and information sources.
Funding for the research that led to the book came from the Pew Charitable Trusts and the University of Washington.

Note: The authors have created a comprehensive digital supplement, which includes screenshots of nearly 300 Web pages referenced in the book, links to archives housing copies of candidate Web sites, and a hypertext presentation of major portions of the book's text available here.

Media

Melissa Santos is one of our students in the Olympia Legislative Reporting Internship this quarter (led by Cindy Simmons). Melissa shared a byline story on the front of the local section on January 9.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Gregoire urges giant leap for education State of the State address lays out lofty goals
Wednesday, January 10, 2007

By Chris McGann And Melissa Santos
P-I Reporters

OLYMPIA -- Echoing John F. Kennedy's challenge to the nation to put a man on the moon, Gov. Chris Gregoire implored Washington to improve the state's math and science programs as part of a 21st-century overhaul of the entire education system.

"We must change our education system and invest in it today," she said in her State of the State address Tuesday night.

"Our modern-day moon challenge is to meet the math and science crisis facing our state and nation," she said, citing Kennedy and the fact that nearly half of 10th- graders failed the math portion of the WASL test last year. "There is no better example of where we have held on to a 20th-century system while we face
21st-century problems."

Gregoire also claimed bragging rights for big wins in the Legislature last year and used them as the launch pad for even loftier goals she detailed in her address.

She heralded last year's record state exports ($45 billion worth), 155,000 new jobs, better-paid teachers, expanded health care for children, equal-rights protections for gays and lesbians, improved access to state parks and curbed auto emissions.

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" she said.
Looking into the future, Gregoire called on state lawmakers to increase early learning programs, cut class sizes, recruit 750 new math and science teachers and provide space for more students in college.

"The best way to grow the economy and secure a bright future for our children is to make significant investment in a renewed education system now," she said.

Rich Wood, spokesman for the Washington Education Association lauded the governor's focus on investments in learning.

"It's clear we need to invest in things like smaller class sizes and all-day kindergarten so all kids can achieve high academic status," Wood said. "It's clear the governor is listening to educators and students and families. Compared to what previous governors have proposed, her emphasis on public education is terrific. She said she was going to do that, and indeed she is."

In addition, Gregoire wants to immunize more children, reduce the cost of prescription drugs through bulk purchasing, speed the cleanup of Puget Sound and promote tourism.

She avoided one of the most troublesome transportation issues. Gregoire provided meager offerings for Seattle commuters waiting to see progress on two of the state's most vexing transportation projects.

"I am also requesting that we take action before it is too late on megaprojects like the viaduct in Seattle, the 520 Bridge, the bridge connection from Vancouver to Portland and the north-south freeway in Spokane," she said.

As of Tuesday, Gregoire has been unable to clear a political jam between the city of Seattle and the state regarding the Alaskan Way Viaduct. Nor has she identified a way to pay to replace the 520 Bridge.

In comparison she spent several minutes talking about Puget Sound, "the jewel of the Northwest."

Gregoire has already made Puget Sound restoration a central element of her agenda, providing an additional $220 million for the cleanup in her 2007-09 budget. On Tuesday night she framed it in stark but easy to understand terms.

Gregoire said the Sound should be a place where "families are able to swim in it, fish in it, and dig shellfish from its beaches."

And she wants it done by 2020.

Naki Stevens, director of programs for People for Puget Sound, said the governor's call for $220 million to clean up pollution, restore damaged habitats and tackle stormwater runoff in Puget Sound is a great investment in Washington's future.

Minority Republicans were generally unhappy, calling her speech an expensive laundry list of proposals. They faulted her for proposing spending they said would cut too deeply into the state's projected $1.9 billion surplus.

"That was a very expensive speech," said House Republican Leader Richard DeBolt of Chehalis. Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, the deputy leader, called it "a classic speech from a big-government liberal."

[Download a Microsoft Word version of the February, 2007 "Communication"]

Many thanks to Jessica Harvey for her work on this newsletter.