Professional Organizations

The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication
The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) is a nonprofit, educational association of journalism and mass communication educators, students and media professionals. The Association’s mission is to promote the highest possible standards for journalism and mass communication education, to cultivate the widest possible range of communication research, to encourage the implementation of a multi-cultural society in the classroom and curriculum, and to defend and maintain freedom of communication in an effort to achieve better professional practice and a better informed public.
Women and Language, an international interdisciplinary research periodical published by the Communication Department, is affiliated with the Organization for the Study of Communication Language and Gender; it has the mission of providing a feminist forum for those interested in communication, language and gender.
Women and Language
Women and Language seeks to stimulate dialogue and inquiry centering the questions of how gender is constructed and how the processes of difference, dichotomy and hierarchy are involved in such gender constructions. It aims to uncover the interconnections among sex, gender, race, class, and heterosexual hegemony, examining the role of symbolic communication, verbal and non verbal, in those processes and connections, attending especially to the impacts of masculinist paradigms in communication. As a periodical that is both newsletter and journal, Women and Language provides an outlet for descriptive research and theoretical speculation and welcomes submissions of completed research, essays, poetry, information about work in progress, bibliographical materials, and news.

American Communication Association
The ACA is a not-for-profit virtual professional association with actual presence in the world of communication scholars and practitioners.ACA is committed to enabling the effective use of new and evolving technologies to facilitate communication instruction, research and criticism, and to offering a technologically supportive venue for all who study the ways in which humans communicate. While the Association is based in the United States, it is a virtual organization that welcomes participation from academics and professionals throughout the world.
Organization for the Study of Communication Language and Gender
OSCLG--the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender--has grown from a series of interdisciplinary conferences that began at Bowling Green State University in 1978. Since that time, it has sought to provide a forum for professional discussion, presentation of research and demonstration of creative projects in the areas of communication, language and gender, and to promote recognition of those doing work in this area. Members of OSCLG believe that interaction across a wide spectrum of disciplines is needed to foster more insightful discussion of the issues of language, gender and communication. Similarly, OSCLG seeks to include contributions from teachers, consultants and practitioners as well as researchers. An annual conference supports the mission of OSCLG, and awards are made during this conference to honor individuals who contribute to the study of communication and gender. Some conferences have led to the creation of scholarly books devoted to language and gender. An interdisciplinary research journal affiliated with OSCLG is Women and Language, published by the Communication Department at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
The mission of Women and Language is to provide a feminist forum for those interested in communication, language and gender.
Society of Professional Journalists
It is the role of journalists to provide this information in an accurate, comprehensive, timely and understandable manner.

It is the mission of the Society of Professional Journalists: — To promote this flow of information.
— To maintain constant vigilance in protection of the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and of the press.
— To stimulate high standards and ethical behavior in the practice of journalism.
— To foster excellence among journalists.
— To inspire successive generations of talented individuals to become dedicated journalists.
— To encourage diversity in journalism.

Delivering Bad News Tactfully and Effectively

                                                                Bad News

In many workplaces today people are faced with many different cultures and personalities. It is essential as a supervisor or manager to deal with any hostile situations before they begin to escalate even more.  Organization leaders are responsible for creating a work environment that enables people to thrive. If turf wars, disagreements and differences of opinion escalate into interpersonal conflict, you must intervene immediately. Not intervening is not an option if you value your organization and your positive culture. In conflict-ridden situations, your mediation skill and interventions are critical.

In the case study presented the employee has been with the company for approximately two years. This is a short time to be having such issues with an employee. As a supervisor the way to approach the situation would be to first call a meeting. Meet with the parties together. Let each briefly summarize their point of view, without comment or interruption by the other party. This should be a short discussion so that all parties are clear about the disagreement and conflicting views. Intervene if either employee attacks the other employee. This is not acceptable.

Ask each participant to describe specific actions they’d like to see the other party take that would resolve the differences. Three or four suggestions work well. An example is, “I’d like Mary to send the report to me by Thursday at 1 p.m. so I can complete my assignment by my due date of Friday at noon (Heathfield 2000).” A second example is, “I would like to have responsibility for all of the business development and follow-up with that client. The way the work is divided now causes Tom and I to never know what the other person is doing.”Sometimes, as in the second example above, you, as the supervisor, must own some of the responsibilities for helping the employees resolve their conflict. Always ask, “What about the work situation is causing these staff members to fail? (Heathfield 2000)”

All participants discuss and commit to making the changes necessary to resolve the conflict. Commit to noticing that the other person has made a change, no matter how small. Commit to treating each other with dignity and respect. It is okay to have reasonable disagreements over issues and plans; it is never okay to have personality conflicts that affect the workplace. Let the parties know that you will not choose sides, that it is impossible for a person external to the conflict to know the truth of the matter. You expect the individuals to resolve the conflicts proactively as adults. If they are unwilling to do so, you will be forced to take disciplinary action that can lead to dismissal for both parties. Finally, assure both parties that you have every faith in their ability to resolve their differences and get on with their successful contributions within your shared organization. Set a time to review progress.

Mediating a conflict is challenging, but as a manager or supervisor, the role of mediator comes with your territory. Your willingness to appropriately intervene sets the stage for your own success. You craft a work environment that enables the success of the people who work there. I believe you can learn to do it. Conflict mediation is an example of “practice makes perfect.

References

Heathfield, Susan.  About.comguide.

            http://humanresources.about.com/od/managementtips/a/conflict_solue.htm

Media Technology Blog

I think that social networking is probably the most significant use of new media technology that is now available to the mass public. While some of the services now offered are simplistic and almost limiting, there is an effect that the means of mass communication has had on the entire world.

Twitter.com is an excellent example of this occurrence. While having a limit of less then 160 characters and only allow text, these messages that are sent out to a list of followers would seem anything but a part of new media technology but because of the way that the messages are sent and information disseminated, it is a groundbreaking way of spreading instant information. At the heart of Twitter are small bursts of information called Tweets. Each Tweet is 140 characters in length, but don’t let the small size fool you—you can share a lot with a little space. Connected to each Tweet is a rich details pane that provides additional information, deeper context and embedded media. You can tell your story within your Tweet, or you can think of a Tweet as the headline, and use the details pane to tell the rest with photos, videos and other media content. I personally have never used Twitter. I have many friends that have created accounts and do it on a family occasion. Twitter connects businesses to customers in real-time. Businesses use Twitter to quickly share information with people interested in their products and services, gather real-time market intelligence and feedback, and build relationships with customers, partners and influential people. From brand lift, to CRM, to direct sales, Twitter offers businesses a chance to reach an engaged audience

Facebook has taken the world by storm and now includes hundreds of millions of users across the globe. The ability for this service to spread more then just a short text message is closer online to what new media technology has to offer to the consumer experience.

By spreading pictures, music, movies and text over Facebook, we are pushing the limits of what new media technology can provide and it will undoubtedly change the world in which we live. Facbook for me personally has been a place where I can reconnect with friends from long ago and even reconnect with some of my mother's friends that were around when I was a small child.   Amazingly, for such a new concept as new media technology, there is a significant amount of new media jobs now available on the market. Because of the complicated technology and intensive education process that it takes to educate an individual in new media, there have been a variety of new media technology colleges that have sprung up to meet the demand.
Besides these new colleges and education facilities, traditional colleges and universities are stepping up their media programs to include new technology to ensure that their graduates are keeping up with the market trends.

Almost any four-year university or accredited college will offer new media technology courses. This demand for students to fill new media careers will not balance out for a few years and students entering post-secondary education systems should take note of the market trends.

Blogs are another example of some media outlets. The Internet is overflowing with blogs. At last count, well over 100 million blogs are being tracked by Technorati. With so many blogs out there, it’s important for writers to understand the purpose of their blog. That’s why I’m posing the question: what’s the point of your blog? Many of us have come upon blogs with no purpose and reason. Many people today are blogging to write out their feelings online. Is this right? I guess that depends on who really cares.                                                                                                                                                      Linkedin is a very toned down social networking site that basically allows you to connect to any that accepts your invitation and is supposed to be a way to network professionally. I personally use it to connect with existing and old friendships in case I may go in a given field that one of my friends is in. Advancing in today's world is still about who you know and by developing a large network of people in all different industries will be to your advantage. Just like having a plumber friend who can help fix your plumbing problems, an IT friend who can give you advice on technology, a lawyer friend who can give you free legal advice, or a doctor friend who can give you free medical advice. These professionals would be able to either help you get a job in their industry or be able to point you to places that will make getting a job easier for you than if you tried with no assistance.

Some people blog to achieve high search engine rankings for their target terms. While I certainly think it’s wise to optimize your blog, your sole purpose shouldn’t be search engine placement. Like I always say, what’s the point of getting great search engine rankings if your content is terrible?

Don’t ignore SEO on your blog, but don’t just publish post after post of keyword-stuffed, filler content either. Remember, what sets a blog apart from traditional static content is the interactivity. A blog can’t be successful without a dedicated following of interested readers. That’s why it’s crucial to place a premium on quality content over all else. If your content is compelling and optimized, you’ll get both high search engine rankings and a lively community

Introduction

This Blog will serve as a informational area for my Communication Studies Capstone class.