As most of you know by now, today the Supreme Court issued it’s long-awaited ruling on the Affordable Care Act, upholding its core mandate in a surprising 5-4 decision. Because of the high degree controversy surrounding the Affordable Care Act — according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center for People & the … Continue reading
Today, January 18, is the official SOPA/PIPA “blackout” day — a voluntary protest in which various websites are censoring all or part of their online content in order to express their strong opposition to two pieces of proposed anti-piracy legislation: the Senate’s “Protest IP Act” (PIPA) and the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Prominent … Continue reading
We’re under an hour away from the official start of the Iowa Caucus, and the Internet is rightly abuzz with the latest polls, news updates, reports, and elections statistics. Election season is an exciting time for communication studies majors — all the more so for students at DC-area universities like American University. Consequently, it’s to … Continue reading
By now most of you have probably heard about the Carrier IQ, the “mobile service intelligence solutions” provider that generated a storm of controversy earlier this month for developing hidden software that logs user activity and relays it to wireless carriers, from personal text messages to Google searches. Interestingly enough, the story broke on November … Continue reading
Admittedly, it’s bit late for a “database of the month post” for November — but believe me when I say that this is a resource worth waiting for. Audit Bureau of Circulations eStatements is a new library resource– one which helps answer that ever-popular communication question: “what is [periodical x’s] circulation?” Published directly through ABC, … Continue reading
I’m a communication studies student interested in doing a research project on Occupy Wall Street and related “Occupy” movements. What resources do you recommend I use to get started? *** Ah yes, the “Occupy” research challenge. This is a topic that I’ve been hearing about a lot from students this semester — and for good … Continue reading
To librarians at academic institutions across the country, it’s increasingly clear that microblogging tools like Twitter are changing the ways that people consume and communicate scholarly and professional information. Nowhere is this perhaps more evident than in the realm of communication studies— where scholars and practitioners alike are turning regularly to Twitter for everything from … Continue reading
In the world of polls and public data, few institutions have better name recognition than Gallup. This is primarily due to the historical relevance of the Gallup Poll, which has chronicled public reaction to key events and issues in the U.S. since the 1930s. At the same time, credit is also due to the Gallup … Continue reading
Communication Librarian 