A Whole New World: My Beginnings as a Student of Journalism
This week, I started graduate classes for the first time as a student of Mass Communications at the LSU Manship School. Yahoo!
Thus begins my jump from a PhD in Biomedical Engineering to an advanced degree studying science journalism!
My jump begins with 2 courses, taken this semester as a non-matriculating student waiting to apply for PhD admittance in the Fall of 2012: a course in Crisis Communications, and a course on Research Methods in Mass Communications.
The inaugural class period of Research Methods in Mass Communications introduced us to the nature of scientific inquiry, and the 12 Characteristics of Science. I am interested to see how the scientific methodologies for preserving these vital characteristics of science differ between the field of biomedical research and the field of communication research.
The Crisis Communication course started off with a quote that deserves repeating:
“A trusted source of information is the most important resilience asset that any individual or group can have in times of surprise” (Longstaff, 2005, p.59).
I wonder what sources of scientific information the American public trusts the most? That students of Science trust the most? That science journalists trust the most?
Here is to a semester-full of blogging on my new experience in Mass Communications, with a special science twist!
PH Longstaff (2005). Security, resilience, and communication in unpredictable environments such as terrorism, natural disasters, and complex technology Center for Information Policy Research, Harvard
Flickr Image by DailyPic