Posted by Elena del Valle on January 10, 2011
Arthur Levine, Ph.D, Juan Carlos Reyes and Laura Scheiber
Photos: Emile Wamsteker, Juan Carlos Reyes, Laura Scheiber
A podcast interview with Arthur Levine, Ph.D., president, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation, Juan Carlos Reyes, executive assistant to the president, Teachers College and Laura Scheiber, doctoral student in Comparative and International Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, they discuss Levine and Scheiber’s recently published book (see Fellowship foundation leader, assistant examine challenges faced by South Bronx youth) with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Arthur is the sixth president of the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation where he has been since 2006. Prior to that he was president and professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia University from 1994 to 2006. He also previously served as a faculty member and chair of the Institute for Educational Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Arthur is co-author of Unequal Fortunes Snapshots from the South Bronx.
Juan Carlos Reyes is the executive assistant to the president at Teachers College. He, a student at Baruch College, has plans to graduate this year in Political Science. His next step will be working toward making a difference in the lives of children growing up in conditions similar to his childhood neighborhood.
Laura is a Fulbright grant recipient, her doctoral research focuses on innovative leaders of violence prevention and youth empowerment initiatives in Brazil. She earned a M.A. at Teachers College, specializing in international educational development and adult education, and a bachelors degree in psychology from Ohio University. A former anchor for AfterED news, she has also taught college-level courses on child development.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Arthur Levine, Ph.D., Juan Carlos Reyes, Laura Scheiber” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the January 2011 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on January 7, 2011
What does the future hold for Cuba now that its famous leader has taken a back seat? Energy resources that allow the Caribbean island nation to improve its economy may be increasingly important in the future and may affect the United States. This is the belief of Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado, a professor of political science at the University of Nebraska Omaha, and editor of Cuba’s Energy Future Strategic Approaches to Cooperation (Brookings Institution Press, $26.95), a recently published book.
In addition to Benjamin-Alvarado, Jorge Piñon, senior research fellow at Florida International University; Juan A.B. Belt, director of Chemonics International; Amy Myers Jaffe, Wallace S.Wilson Fellow in Energy Studies, Rice University; and Ronald Soligo, Rice scholar, Rice University contributed to the 143-page softcover book.
Benjamin-Alvarado is assistant director of the Office of Latino/Latin American Studies. He is also senior research associate of the Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia. He is the author of Power to the People: Energy and the Cuban Nuclear Program.
Click to buy Cuba’s Energy Future
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Posted by Elena del Valle on January 5, 2011
U.S. student enrollment by language 2006-2009 per MLA report
Graphic: Modern Language Association of America
Interest in foreign languages in colleges in the United States increased 6.6 percent between 2006 and 2009. Foreign language enrollment has also been increasingly diverse including a broad range of language studies, according to a new report, Enrollments in Languages Other Than English in United States Institutions of Higher Education, Fall 2009, released December 2010 by the Modern Language Association of America (MLA).
Arabic popularity rose as did Korean and Chinese. Although French, German and Italian were popular Spanish was the most popular foreign language by a wide margin with 864,986 students enrolling in classes during the time period of the report.
“It’s gratifying to see that so many US students recognize the importance of language study for our future,” said Rosemary G. Feal, executive director, Modern Language Association of America in a press release. “The demand for an ever-greater range of languages demonstrates the vitality of the field. Despite troubling cutbacks in language offerings at some institutions, this report shows that overall language remains strong at US colleges and universities.”
The MLA report, produced since 1958, is described as the longest-running and most comprehensive analysis of the study of languages other than English at United States colleges and universities. The report includes undergraduate and graduate course enrollments in languages other than English in fall 2009 for 2,514 AA-, BA-, MA-, and PhD-granting colleges and universities in the United States. The researchers believe these 2,514 institutions represent 99 percent of all higher education institutions offering language courses in the country.
The Modern Language Association of America, dedicated to strengthening the study and teaching of languages and literature, has 30,000 members in 100 countries. Founded in 1883, the MLA strives to provide opportunities for its members to share their scholarly findings and teaching experiences with colleagues and to discuss trends in the academy. According to the MLA website the organization produces twelve new books a year and a variety of publications for language and literature professionals and for the public.
Posted by Elena del Valle on January 3, 2011
We wish you and yours a wonderful, healthy and prosperous 2011!
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 17, 2010
2011 Social Media Directory
Jeffery A. Riley, formerly in the publishing industry, thought it would be helpful to gather a list of companies and organizations with an online presence in the best known social media sites in a book. With that goal in mind he selected what he considers the most important companies and organizations with an online presence on the better known social media sites, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter in the 2011 Social Media Directory: The Ultimate Guide to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Resources (Que Publishing, $19.99). In spite of the title which may give the impression it is a list of social media the book features a list of companies and their social media addresses.
The 296-page softcover book lists 3,000 sources in 15 information categories. Fifteen chapters divided by category list subcategories each one with the name of one or more organizations or companies, a description of each along with the company website and Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts when available. The main categories are: Business, computers and electronics, current events, politics, education, news, entertainment, health, hobbies, sports, travel, religion, shopping and fashion.
Riley, president, Box Twelve Communications, Inc., a content solutions company, is a former staff writer of the Los Angeles Times. He was involved for 15 years in the information technology publishing industry as copy editor, production editor, development editor, acquisitions editor, executive editor, and author. He is the author of Introduction to OpenOffice.org, and Picture Yourself Learning Microsoft Excel 2010.
Click to buy 2011 Social Media Directory
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Filed Under: Books
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 15, 2010
Record, Fútbol al Máximo
Photos: Maya Publishing Group
Economic hardship is affecting many across the United States. Mira, a 10-year old magazine, publishes its last issue this month. Also in the Spanish language print publishing space Maya Publishing Group instituted changes to adjust to market contractions. Last month, Maya began publishing TVnotas, a gossip oriented publication sold in the United States since 1999, twice a month instead of every week.
Starting January 2011 the publisher will convert Récord Semanario de Fútbol, a sports magazine published in the United States since the last quarter of 2008 (see Publisher launches magazine for Spanish speaking Latino soccer fans), from a weekly magazine to a monthly.
Récord Semanario de Fútbol will change its name to Record, Fútbol al Máximo. Plans are in place to add a new section and 32 pages to each issue for a total of 116 pages. The revamped magazine, sold within a bag to allow promotional ad opportunities, will have a change in design slated to include more graphics and less copy.
TVnotas
“We are changing the frequency in two of our titles to optimize our resources, while we are committed with our readers and advertisers to continue delivering excellence in our editorial content, Latin celebrities news and interviews, as well as photographic and top quality printing,” said Alexandra Zanic, marketing manager, Maya Publishing Group, by email.
In addition to TVnotas and Récord Semanario de Fútbol Maya publishes H para Hombres and H para Hombres Extremo, adult magazines for men with a circulation of 50,000 (see Publisher pursues elusive demographic with men’s magazine in Spanish and Florida publisher targets affluent Latino men with adult magazine).
The three Spanish language magazines will be available in the United States in California, Texas, New York, Illinois, New Jersey, Georgia and Florida at airports, newsstands and via retailers including Walgreens, CVS, Publix, HEB, Superior Grocers, and Fiesta Mart. TVnotas is also available in Puerto Rico and online through Zinio.com. Maya Publishing Group, previously Maya Magazines, is the United States arm of Mexico City, Mexico based Notmusa.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on December 13, 2010
Beth Blatt, CEO, Hope Sings
Photo: Hope Sings
A podcast interview with Beth Blatt, chief executive officer, Hope Sings is available in the Podcast Section of Hispanic Marketing & Public Relations, HispanicMPR.com. During the podcast, Beth discusses microfinance and her company with Elena del Valle, host of the HispanicMPR.com podcast.
Beth has a broad range of creative and corporate experience in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. She is a theater writer, and has also written for television, radio, newspapers and magazines. She produced television for TV Tokyo and worked in account management at Ogilvy & Mather/NY advertising. As an actress, she appeared on stages and screens internationally including the film Godzilla versus Biolante. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College.
To listen to the interview, scroll down until you see “Podcast” on the right hand side, then select “HMPR Beth Blatt,” click on the play button below or download the MP3 file to your iPod or MP3 player to listen on the go, in your car or at home. To download it, click on the arrow of the recording you wish to copy and save it to disk. The podcast will remain listed in the December 2010 section of the podcast archive.
Posted by Elena del Valle on December 10, 2010
Photos: Mark Griffiths, Ph.D., Joanne Cantor, Ph.D.,
It has become common to see people at a conference presentation while at the same time checking emails or texting on their electronic assistant of choice. Multitasking has become ubiquitous with many people who rely on their technological tools and internet access for work and fun. Many drive, walk, shop, wait in line and so forth while talking or texting. Disconnecting while dining, driving, in the movies, on an airplane or at the grocery store is difficult for some. For many business owners and executives traveling with a laptop or access to the internet, even if the trip is for pleasure, is unthinkable.
Workers spend as much as 40 percent of their time online while at work on non-work related browsing, and make more than half (60 percent) of online purchases during working hours, according to a survey by the International Data Corporation (Snapshot Spy, 2008). As many as 90 per cent of employee respondents to the survey said they felt the internet can be addictive, and 41 percent said they spent more than three hours online per week for personal surfing.
While connectivity and technology provide freedom and enhanced capabilities for millions for some they are the tools or the source of addiction, according to a few expert voices softly surfacing.
Does technological abuse exist? Some believe it does. There are those who distinguish between addictions where addicts use the internet as a means for their addiction and those where the person may be addicted to the internet itself. There is more than one kind of technological or internet abuse according to Mark Griffiths, Ph.D., professor, Nottingham Trent University, in the United Kingdom. In Unraveling the Web: Adolescents and Internet Addiction, a chapter in Adolescent Online Social Communication and Behavior, a book, he and Laura Wydyanto, his co-author of the chapter, address the issue of internet addiction among teenagers.
In a 10-page article, Internet abuse and internet addiction in the workplace, published February 2010 in The Journal of Workplace Learning (Vol. 22 No. 7, 2010 pp. 463-472 qEmeraldGroupPublishingLimited 1366-5626 DOI 10.1108/13665621011071127) he identifies cybersexual internet abuse, online friendship/relationship abuse, internet activity abuse, online information abuse, and criminal internet abuse. He believes internet abuse has the potential to be a serious occupational issue although it has been neglected in research to date.
Conquer CyberOverload book cover
In the United States, Joanne Cantor, Ph.D., addresses the topic in Conquer CyberOverload Get More Done, Boost Your Creativity and Reduce Stress (CyberOutlook Press, $12.95), a 92-page softcover book published earlier this year. In 2008, she began doing research for the book and giving lectures based on her findings. In the spring of 2009, after four months of work she completed the manuscript. She said by email that she has received much positive feedback to the book and related presentations.
“I’m getting very favorable reactions to the book, with most people saying how much it relates to their own lives and how useful the tips are. They also find the brain exercises and the recent research interesting and surprising,” said Cantor by email when asked about the success of her book.
The ReStart Internet Addiction Recovery Program in Washington, in its second year of operation, is touted as the first of its kind. It offers a therapeutic retreat center stay of 45 days or longer for adults suffering from internet and video game addiction, according the the company website. An anonymous ReStart Internet Addiction Recovery Program website survey of 14,000 visitors indicates 10.6 percent of respondents acknowledged having a problem with excessive use of the internet and 39.3 percent of respondents were open to the possibility that they may have a problem. Some 27.2 percent of respondents said they suffer impairments in everyday life and interaction with others because of their internet or video game use.
Joanne Cantor, Ph.D., author, Conquer CyberOverload
As a recovering cyber-addict, Cantor believes it is possible to reach a balance between the benefits of healthy use of connectivity and cyberspace and the needs of leading a productive, creative and well rounded life. In her book, she shares strategies that have helped her overcome her former need to be connected.
The book is dived into an introduction followed by five chapters. She starts out by asking some questions to help the reader determine if he or she may suffer from cyber overload. She goes on to discuss the effects of the digital age; why she believes multitasking may be counterproductive; how too much information can decrease creativity; what she considers are the reasons behind cyber stress; and how readers may be able to control their use of technology.
Cantor, president of Your Mind on Media, is outreach director, Center for Communication Research University of Wisconsin-Madison where she was a professor for 26 years.
Click here to buy Conquer CyberOverload
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