Utterz for Digital Resumes, Portfolios, Spot News and Crisis Comms
July 22, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
Offered up a demo of Utterz in class tonight. Students may incorporate it into their final projects - digital resumes & portfolios - for the PRProspects.com site.
During the chat, we talked about how Utterz might be used for a client. Read more
Alabama democrat candidate for U.S. House reaches out to bloggers
July 20, 2008 by Robert · 11 Comments
The political season offers many opportunities for exploring how candidates are using social media in their campaigns. I didn’t think I’d find many (if any) examples in the Alabama races this year. Then, a Google ad popped up in my mail reader: “Turning Alabama Blue - Segall2008.com - Viable democrat running in Alabama. Watch his intro-video and join us!” Read more
Gary Goldhammer, SVP Edelman :: Video Interview from Edelman/PRWeek Academic Summit
July 14, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
Gary Goldhammer, Senior Vice President at Edelman in Los Angeles, joined us for an interview at the Edelman / PRWeek New Media Academic Summit in Chicago.
I saved Gary’s interview for last because along with his practitioner experience, Gary teaches a graduate level PR course at the University of California-Irvine. A unique course, at that. Read more
Mary Metcalf, Edelman and Auburn Alumnae :: Video Interview from Edelman/PRWeek Academic Summit
July 14, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
Mary Metcalf, or MK to her fans, was live blogging the Edelman / PRWeek New Media Academic Summit as part of her AAE duties for Edelman in Chicago. An Auburn alumnae, and a favorite grad, I wanted to interview her for all the folks back home.
Yes, I’ll be pointing the students here and saying, “Hey, now there’s a success story. Admit it! You want to be like MK.” Read more
Neville Hobson, For Immediate Release :: Video Interview from Edelman/PRWeek Academic Summit
July 13, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
Neville Hobson has been following our class digital/social media activities since, well - really the beginning. It was nice to see him again at the Edelman / PRWeek New Media Academic Summit in Chicago. ![]()
Neville recently wrote about his Summit experiences in What academics think about social media. Read more
Alexandra Wheeler, Starbucks :: Video Interview from Edelman/PRWeek Academic Summit
July 12, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
Alexandra Wheeler, Director of Digital at Starbucks, kindly agreed to an interview at the Edelman/PRWeek New Media Academic Summit in Chicago, a few weeks back.![]()
Starbucks recently launched (March ‘08?) their site - my Starbucks Idea. This BusinessWeek article explains more. Read more
Another PROpenMic Success :: Maria Garcia and Lindsey George at Converseon
July 8, 2008 by Robert · 4 Comments
The PROpenMic social
network for PR students, faculty and practitioners continues to prove successful.
Paull Young, of Young PR and Converseon emailed me the other day with news. He reminded me of the two people at Converseon that found their way to the firm through social media, and PROpenMic, in particular. Read more
Views from Five Faculty Members on the Edelman PRWeek Academic Summit ‘08
July 6, 2008 by Robert · 11 Comments
Five of the faculty members attending the Edelman / PRWeek New Media Academic Summit kindly agreed to interviews recently in Chicago. My apologies for not getting more, but this is a fairly representative sample.
The five faculty members come from diverse universities, both large and medium sized. Sorry, I didn’t get any from small schools. My bad.
Enrollments range from 11,000+ (Howard & SDSU) to 22,000+ at Northeastern, while the enrollment is 31,000+ at UNT and 32,000+ at UGA. Two are private (Howard & Northeastern). Three are public (UNT, SDSU & UGA). Read more
Rick Murray :: President, Edelman Digital at the New Media Academic Summit ‘08
July 3, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
Rick Murray kindly agreed to an interview at the recent New Media Academic Summit in Chicago.
Rick Murray shares why Edelman Public Relations has taken a leadership role in helping academia better prepare students for the future of public relations.
This conference is an excellent model for others to follow. We need all the help we can get, folks. I appreciate Edelman’s leadership in this area. The Summit, along with their Bootcamps, shows that Edelman is clearly in the lead. I wish more of these types of opportunities were taking place now. We don’t want to have to catch up, do we?
Video from the Edelman/PRWeek New Media Academic Summit held on June 26-27, 2008.
Find more videos like this on PROpenMic
Keith O’Brien :: Editor-In-Chief, PRWeek Magazine at the New Media Academic Summit ‘08
July 3, 2008 by Robert · Comments Off
At the Edelman/PRWeek New Media Academic Summit, I had the pleasure of interviewing Keith O’Brien, Editor-In-Chief of PRWeek.
Keith shares, what I believe to be, a great overview of why PR agencies should seek to work with academia and why experimenting with emerging digital media is so important for both students and educators.
This video is from June 26-27, 2008, in Chicago.
Find more videos like this on PROpenMic
The Other Side of the Coin is Rusting :: Powerful Video and Opportunity for Comparison and Rhetorical Analysis
June 30, 2008 by Robert · 2 Comments
Video is a powerful medium.
The YouTube video below started me thinking about a lot of things. My head was spinning. So, I’m just thinking out loud here. My mind is still running over possible lesson plans that may help those academics yet to explore emerging digital media an avenue to embrace it.
This video I’m referring to, you’re going to like it, made me think how interesting it would be to adapt this Comparison and Rhetorical Analysis class assignment to the video below.
What might we add to that assignment? Perhaps a discussion about the growth of internet usage, particularly internet video viewing habits, among tweens, teens and college students would fit - or extend the exploration. Is online video their new venue for activism?
Discuss how broad the use of video has spread in just a short time. From February 2005 until today, YouTube has been followed by numerous other video sharing sites and networks.
With all those video sites, and their enormous traffic, McLuhan’s hammer is now a sledge [medium (video) as an extension (the hammer) of ourselves]. Think of it. With the advent of TubeMogul.com, for instance, the reach of these messages extends to so many sites, so easily. I know, we’re just talking about the time it takes to upload videos. But, that time requirement/constraint is a barrier to entry. One upload via TubeMogul now means you’re posting to over a dozen video sharing sites at once.
Looking at this post from June 2006, Video sharing sites - Alexa rankings « Video on the Web, I began wondering where their rankings are now. A cursory look already shows that more are in the top traffic slots. I’ll investigate those sites (and the new ones) and post it later. (And yes, I know we have to look further than the traffic rankings of Alexa.)
Like I said, my mind is spinning and racing. The Comparison and Rhetorical Analysis is one more way to engage in emerging digital media discussions in class. Compare the reach of video online today to the reach of say movies in their earliest years and TV in its Golden Age? That’s another. After all, the numbers are staggering.
And all of this rather random thinking comes about due to this truly powerful video that involves the juxtaposition of images from the 3rd world and developed countries. Me? I imagine that most people are generally oblivious to the devastation taking place all around us. Sure, we know it is happening. We just don’t think about it. Videos like this one need to keep pinging us upside the head as a reminder that all is not well with our world.
Again, just thinking out loud. Gotta get my head around this. Watch the video. What do you think?
By the way, if one kookaid drunk new media (ack!) guru makes any comment about the term medium, I’ll pound you. ![]()





