OPINION

Life As a Series of Media Interrupts

By Terry Calhoun

In the ocean of media that we live in, what we think of as 'life' may already just be a series of 'media interrupts.'

In the year and a half that I spent with the US Navy's Underwater Demolition Team 13, in 1969-70, I spent far less time each day immersed in water than I now spend immersed in media. So do you, unless you happen to be related to Aquaman.

I visited Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, last week for the "Greening of the Campus VI" conference and spent some time with SCUP member Donald King, Jr., associate director of University Computing Services there. From him, I learned that BSU's Center for Media Design was about to publish a major research report on Americans' use of media. This week the report came out, and it's a doozy.
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IT NEWS

We Spend Two-thirds of Our Waking Hours Immersed in Media

That's what a new study from Ball State University finds: 30 percent of our time using media exclusively and 39 percent of our time using media while doing something else. (USA Today) Read more

TXTING: Teens Are MFI (Mad For It)

If you're over 30 it may seem strange to you, but text-messaging is an amazingly popular social tool for today's young people. (News-Record, Greensboro, NC) Read more

The Duke University Tech Toys in the Classroom: The Saga Continues

This academic year the program uses a more diverse array of handheld devices. Think: GPS technology for primate behavior studies, or studying student-lawyer performance via video. (The Chronicle, Duke University) Read more

RESOURCES

Oregon State University Leader In Study Of Computer, Information Ethics

What do you feel like if you are required to leave your cell phone at home for 48 hours? They study that kind of stuff at OSU. (Medford News) Read more

DEALS, CONTRACTS, AWARDS

Bryant University Commits to Open-Source Future With IBM

IBM announced that Bryant University, (RI) ranked the second most connected campus in America, has joined the open-source computing world by moving its entire data center from proprietary Sun Solaris systems to an IBM microprocessor architecture running on the open-source Linux operating system. (Marketwire) Read more