Old messages never die

For better or worse, what one says to the media is no longer safe in the archives of library basements. The Internet is the world's archive. Today, I was looking for an old program online from a presentation I gave in Guilin, China about 8 years ago. Instead, I found a citation I'd given to a magazine editor years ago. It seems that parts of that article has been cut and pasted so many times that it it barely recognized for its original source. See if you can figure out where the material actually got its start! I found pieces of the original HERE.

Research interview techniques

Madelon Eelderink is a researcher from the Netherlands who also works in the African continent, particularly in Uganda. Here is an informal "lecture" on research interviews:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64LfzIUNpLs

Worst cover letters ever?

As I read some of these letters, I find myself empathizing with a few of the writers. They mean well. Perhaps they are really beaten down in their jobs. Unfortunately, their correspondence reveals a bit too much!

Read this "Bottom 10" list from Business Insider.

Classroom communication

Communication and teaching share commonalities. Some would argue that both, done effectively, accomplish the intended consequences: comprehension and learning. But how do we talk about "doing communication" well? How is teaching done "well"? And what are the expected or intended outcomes related to "well-ness?" Neither communication nor teaching can happen without a minimum two people. Encoding and decoding require two people, at least. Self-teaching is certainly possible, but I would argue that self-learning is the better description of that particular process. Learning requires active interest and motivation. Teachers, or facilitators, therefore can and often do provide the impetus or motivation for others to learn. A great deal is written among psychologists and sociologists as well as by management behavioralists about self-efficacy. If you are unfamiliar with the term, here is an easy entry point.