I have spent the evening writing up a grant to fund a new research project (while eating lots of chicken couscous that I made yesterday) on political communication using the technique of content analysis. I will be submitting it later on this week. More on that project in a future post. While I was writing, …
Continue reading "Ingmar Bergman Makes a Movie – a great documentary"
Yesterday afternoon, I gave a lecture to my first year communications class on George Lakoff's idea that our thinking is fundamentally rooted in metaphor. Lakoff explains that the underpinnings of how we structure our understanding of the world is metaphorical. He gives the example of "Time is money" - a metaphor that expresses a principle …
Continue reading "Canada’s choice: political communication as dance or war?"
I think that the Conservative Party of Canada wants to remain in a permanent minority position. For a couple of weeks, they had the Liberals on the run, with the media and NDP ganging up on Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff. The Liberals' popularity was sagging in the polls to below-Dion levels. The terrible mistake in …
I had a seminar class today with my Communication Studies 4N03: News Analysis class. It was great. We focused on units of sampling, variable selection and defining the population. I really enjoy teaching this class, because it is problem- and project-based. The class is divided into 7 groups, each of whom is taking on a …
Today was a truly a happy day. I woke up early and met my thesis student in the Master of Communication Management program, an executive MBA program offered by the DeGroote School of Management at McMaster University, in which I am an adjunct faculty member. We rehearsed a little and drove into McMaster for the …
I had a beautiful day today. First, my parents surprised me by coming over and helping me clean my house in exchange for a lunch of couscous with tilapia, red bells, tomato and garlic that I prepared. I love cooking and it was my pleasure to whip something up for them. They left at about …
Yesterday, I went with a new friend to visit the Art Gallery of Ontario, specifically to see the Edward Streichen fashion photography exhibit (In High Fashion, the Condé Nast Year 1923-1937). The photos were beautiful, stunning, really. I was particularly struck by the fact that the photos showed the models bodies in an unvarnished, unphotoshopped …
Last weekend, I had the pleasure of visiting my old friend and mentor, Geoffrey Rockwell. It was a great trip. I stayed at a beautiful hotel, the Fairmont Macdonald Hotel, where I spent a good part of Saturday with my laptop in the great room, looking out the window and writing. The talk was interesting. …
Continue reading "Snowy Edmonton – Content analysis and old friends."
Well, I have thought about blogging for an awfully long time. A lot of people have asked me to start using a blog as a tribune for my ideas, the interesting things I do and come across. So I have decided to plunge into the world internet commentary. This blog will be eclectic. I'll talk …
