JAMcArthur
Media Appearances
Does Technology Impact our Health?
Bobby DeMuro, who has been hosting The Bobby DeMuro Show on WBT Radio every Sunday evening since fall 2011, tackles current issues related to public health. This week’s topic: Does technology impact our health?
Bobby hosted me on tonight’s show alongside Jason Silverstein, Jon West, and others to discuss current issues in media, technology, and society. My section of the show covered the ways that technology intersects with communication, advocacy, and health.
I answered questions from DeMuro surrounding the impact of technology on health, the relationship between technology and society, our “need” to be connected, the growing digital divide, and future predictions about society’s reliance on technology.
My message was one of the continued need for digital literacy. We each have a responsibility to use technology wisely, by carefully assessing the information we discover and creating information that is accurate and reliable. We each need to take responsibility for the information we share, and we have to learn how to collaborate with our communities through technology as well as in person.
Listen to or download the full interview on media fire
Thanks to Bobby DeMuro for bringing this topic to the Charlotte airwaves and for inviting me to be a participant.
For more information about the Bobby DeMuro Show, visit http://bobbydemuro.com/work/wbt/
My Digital Life: A Community Learning Lesson
Raahil Dhruva reached out gently across the generational divide and helped a community member learn how to use Skype so he could communicate with his daughter. Dhruva, a junior at Queens University of Charlotte from London, England, called the experience “an emotional moment.” His was one story of many.
Along with a team of students in the James L. Knight School of Communication, Dhruva volunteered to teach digital and media literacy skills to residents of Myers Park, the university’s neighborhood. Through a new partnership with Myers Park Home Owners Association, the school offered a digital and media literacy session entitled “My Digital Life: Social media meets personal privacy” on Oct. 12.
The school’s Knight-Crane Convergence Laboratory was filled with curious residents, eager to learn and to share their questions and worries about the Digital Age. Dr. John A. McArthur, an assistant professor in the school, led a discussion about social media and privacy, providing the context of Marshall McLuhan’s predictions come true and citizens’ growing need to keep up with rapid change. After the discussion, communication students and attendees met shoulder to shoulder at the computers.
Freshman Knight Scholar Zenzele Barnes taught several neighbors how to use Twitter. Others, like communication major Mena Shenouda, worked with parents who wanted to learn about their children’s use of Facebook. Senior communication students Amelia Farmer and Sara Beth Jones helped participants learn how to adjust Facebook’s privacy settings.
“Facebook today at 800 million users has the same number of people that used the entire Internet in 2004,” Dr. McArthur told the group.
The community members were appreciative of the hands-on training and being able to work one-on-one with a student to increase their knowledge. Students were eager to teach and the neighbors were eager to learn. One parent of two teen-agers said simply about the session, “I feel comfortable and I don’t feel stupid.”
“Our role is to be a safe place for people in the community to be able to ask questions and gain knowledge,” remarked Van King, dean of the school.
The Knight School of Communication is focused on increasing digital and media literacy in Charlotte. Students at the school will be involved in the community, teaching skills that empower residents to contribute to their communities through digital media. Myers Park, the community closest to Queens, is just the beginning. To learn more, download the Knight School Master Plan.
This article was written with contributions from Van King and Jennifer Hull at the Knight School of Communication. It was featured on the website of John S. & James L. Knight Foundation.
Town Crier? Village Idiot? We each have role in public space
Town crier? Village idiot? We each have role in public spaceThis column ran in the Charlotte Observer on September 30, 2011 on the opinion/editorial page. The link above will take you to the column on the Observer’s website.
Facebook is changing the face of our private lives. The impending release of Facebook Timeline and Open Graph blurs the lines between private information and public announcements. Some critics suggest that Americans need to realize that all information shared online is public – regardless of the privacy controls we believe we have.
Next time you tweet or update your Facebook status, make a choice about who you want to be in the public space of the Internet. In our global village, are you a town crier, a costermonger, or just the village idiot?
Media theorist Marshall McLuhan suggested fifty years ago that electronics would lead us toward a global village – a world made smaller and more social by rapid advances in communication technologies. Many people believe that we now live in that small, interconnected village of loud citizens who publicize various aspects of our lives.
Sharing ourselves publicly is not a new phenomenon. In Medieval towns and villages, three types of people could often be found yelling in the streets.
The first, the town crier, was responsible for sharing the daily news. He walked the streets ringing a bell, shouting, “Oyez, Oyez!” His responsibility was to make announcements for the court, the government or other organizations considered influential by the people.
The second, the costermonger, was often known as a hawker or street vendor. She could be heard singing advertisements for her goods or trade. Whether selling strawberries, flowers, or clothing, this savvy businessperson used her voice to make a living.
The third was known around town as the village idiot. He ran through the streets making a joke or serving as one. His was the voice of the jester, the merrymaker, the town player or the buffoon.
In towns, there were also citizens. These townspeople weren’t often shouting. Instead they listened, discerning between the voices on their streets. They used their voices sparingly to join in the fun or to talk among themselves – and sometimes shout, if necessary.
In the global village, we give voice to our stories on Twitter and Facebook. We shout on YouTube and peddle our wares on eBay, Etsy, and blogs. We even identify our streets on Foursquare.
Each of us must make a choice about the voice we choose – the role we choose to play in our global village. Like the town crier, we could advance the news of the day. As a costermonger, we might be found practicing our trade. And many of us, like the village idiot, just add to the noise and festivity of our town. All of these voices can benefit the village.
However, the more important role in our global village is the one of citizen. The citizen listens, thinks, evaluates, and then joins in the discussion. My hope is that, like the citizens of the villages of old, each of us can learn to distinguish between the voices of the crier, the costermonger and the idiot. Only then can we become engaged citizens, fully participating in the global village.
John A.McArthur, Ph.D., is an assistant professor and director of undergraduate programs in the Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte. He can be reached at http://jamcarthur.com
9/11 Remembered in Memorials
This column was featured as "Share Your Own Memory" in today's Greenville News.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting in a classroom on the first day of the term at Furman University. I had just finished the first course of my senior year – “Freedom in the Western Tradition” – and was settling into my second of the day – “Islam.”
The irony of that juxtaposition was not lost on me that morning.
As planes crashed in New York City, Washington, DC and a field in Pennsylvania, I watched and prayed. Two days later, as news was still developing, student leaders at Furman led a prayer vigil for our country. At our opening of school convocation, the Furman community sang a hopeful “America, the Beautiful” in place of the typical rendition of our alma mater.
A decade after 9/11, each of us can remember our feelings of shock, anger, and fear and tell the story of where we were when the news found us. When we take the time to share our stories, we memorialize the event. But the stories of those that perished in the attacks will be forever told through our national memorials.
The Pentagon’s 9/11 memorial was dedicated three years ago. 184 benches, each representing one of the lives lost at the site, jut up from the ground and hover over reflection pools. The benches are arranged along an age line – from the youngest victim aged 3 to the oldest, 71. Each is engraved with the name of the victim for whom it stands.
While facing the Pentagon, visitors see the inscriptions for those that died in the building; whereas the inscriptions for those who died aboard the plane can be read by facing the sky in the direction from which the plane travelled.
The gravel underfoot, the sound of flowing water, and the peeling paperbark maple trees at the site give the sensation that this is a place of memory, different from the area around it.
The memorials at the World Trade Center in New York City and the site of the Flight 93 crash in Shanksville, Pennsylvania will be dedicated this weekend. Like the Pentagon Memorial, the two memorials to be dedicated on this solemn anniversary tell the stories of the lives lost there.
Each memorial is set apart from its surroundings, creating a place for reflection. Each shares the stories of the victims as individuals. And each creates a space designed for national remembrance.
Memorials move us from saying an independent, “I will never forget,” to declaring as a nation, “We will always remember.” They cause us to pause, to contemplate our history, and to share our own stories.
This September 11th, take the time to learn about our three national memorials and the stories of the lives they represent, reflect on the events of these last ten years, and tell your own story of remembrance.
Dr. John A. McArthur is an assistant professor in the Knight School of Communication at Queens University of Charlotte and resides in Greenville, SC. Contact Dr. McArthur at http://jamcarthur.com
Honored by Lambda Pi Eta
Thank you to the members of the Lambda Pi Eta Chapter at Queens University of Charlotte for honoring me with the Lambda Pi Eta Award for service to the Knight School’s undergraduate programs. I feel humbled that the students in our school chose me for this award from among a very talented and caring faculty in the Knight School of Communication.
Here’s the news release from the Queens website:
Sara Beth Jones, President of Lambda Pi Eta honor society, and Dr. McArthur
Sara Beth Jones, President of Lambda Pi Eta honor society, presented Dr. John A. McArthur with the award for outstanding service to undergraduates in the Knight School at this year’s Knight School Spring Picnic. Members of the honor society award recipients in recognition of exemplary service during the academic year.
Throughout the year, Dr. McArthur has led the honor society to host the first annual Banned Books Week event and inducted 10 new members in the Spring and 7 new members in the Fall. Dr.
McArthur also serves as the faculty advisor to Lambda Pi Eta and Director of Undergraduate Programs at the Knight School.
Ballantyne Magazine
Ballantyne Magazine, a Charlotte-area publication, released its Spring 2011 issue featuring the wired generation of “echo-boomers.” Alongside other Charlotte-area twenty- and thirty-somethings, I was included in the cover story, by Carol Gifford, as both an example of and researcher of the intersection between daily life and technology.
Check out the Spring 2011 issue of Ballantyne magazine online.
Taming the Social Media Beast
“Can the benefits of social media outweigh the risks involved in its use?” Thus began the conversation about social media at Center Stage in Charlotte’s NoDa District on Tuesday night.
The National Public Radio (NPR) affiliate, WFAE 90.7, hosts a Public Conversations Series in Charlotte to encourage community dialogue on current events. On Tuesday, February 15, 2011, their program focused on “Taming the Social Media Beast” hosted by Julie Rose. I was honored to be a panelist at this discussion alongside Dani Burns, of FairPoint Communications, and Attorney Jonathan Crotty, of Parker Poe.
The conversation centered around social media and its personal and professional uses. Johnathan Crotty answered legal questions about personal and professional social media use, Dani Burns highlighted business, marketing, and branding issues in social media, and I discussed the societal implications of social media use and digital and media literacy.
Our major message (quoted by @thesicklecircle): People get the social part of social media, but they forget about the media part. Social media is public.
Here are links to some of the resources on my blog relevant to the questions and comments shared:
- A Field Guide to the Twitter Language: help for those trying to discern how to read and write effectively in tweets.
- 20 Digital Thinkers to Follow on Twitter
- Civility, Technology, and a Digital Society
- Resources for Digital Strategic Communication Professionals
- Book reviews: Digital and Strategic Communication texts to read
Thanks again to WFAE, Julie Rose, my fellow panelists, and the audience for an excellent conversation.
No names, just rants and raves
The Charlotte Observer’s social media columnist Eric Frazier wrote a feature on Charlotte-based startup Fastnote.com, published on December 28, 2010. Below are excerpts from the article:
Richard Shaffner hardly fits the hip young social media CEO stereotype.
He’s a 55-year-old father of six, a former banker who’s still finding his way around the new world of blogs and social networks. The only T-shirts he’d ever wear to the office would be the ones hidden beneath button-down oxfords.
But the generation gap hasn’t stopped him and his 62-year-old brother, Louis, from launching Fastnote.com, a new Charlotte-based social media website they hope will mushroom into the next big thing online. < … >
But as they continue to get feedback, the brothers are starting to wonder if privacy-sensitive baby boomers like themselves might not be a more natural market than the 20-something crowd.
John McArthur, a Queens University communications professor who consulted on Fastnote’s development, said people who don’t like putting personal information online might find it a more comfortable place to share their thoughts. Read more.
Social Media & Education: School, Teacher, Student & Classroom
The leaders of Social Media Charlotte invited me to speak at the December 2010 breakfast meeting titled, “Social Media & Education: School, Teacher, Student & Classroom.” The panel – which included Dr. Jeri Langford (Associate Professor at Johnson & Wales University), Adam Brooks (Communications Director for Central Piedmont Community College), and Brian Baute (IT Director at University of North Carolina – Charlotte) – spoke on issues related to higher education and social media in three areas: institutional use, pedagogical use, and student use.
Here’s a brief synopsis of my contributions to the dicussion:
The conversation began with a discussion of the efforts of Queens University of Charlotte in the social media arena (which are led by the staff of the Marketing and Community Relations Office). You can see all of Queens’ social media efforts on the university’s social media page.
At #smbclt @JAMcArthur representing Queens University well. School seems to be approaching social media w right mindset.—
Liz Barrett (@LZBarrett) December 08, 2010
We continued with questions about the use of social media in our graduate and undergraduate programs. Professors in the Knight School of Communication and across the university are beginning to implement social media into classroom instruction in courses ranging from art to environmental science to business, nursing, and communication. Students in the Digital Strategic Communication course in the Knight School’s Master of Arts in Communication program attended at the event.
Social media allows education to expand beyond 4 walls… Our #comm648 class is a great example @JAMcArthur #smbclt—
Catherine Whittaker (@catherinewhitt) December 08, 2010
Finally, we discussed student use of social media and preparing students for the jobs of tomorrow, suggesting that learning intellectual curiosity and the ability to craft successful messages may be more valuable than learning technology trades.
'Rather than treating social media as a stand alone, we try to incorporate it into instruction on various topics.' via @JAMcArthur #SMBCLT—
Dani Burns (@DaniBurns27) December 08, 2010
People interested in continuing the discussion should visit the #SMCEDU chats which are hosted each Monday at 12:30 pm, Eastern. Topics of the chats vary based upon current issues for higher education and social media.
Introducing Dr. Fareed Zakaria
Last week, I had the honor of introducing Dr. Fareed Zakaria for his lecture given for Queens University of Charlotte’s Learning Society Lecture Series at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center in Charlotte, NC.
Zakaria, the popular host of CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS and editor for Time magazine, gave an hour lecture without a note and delighted the audience with quick, witty turns and thoughtful commentary.
I have shared the text of my introduction below:
