NEW: E-Books in Communication Studies

The following communication books are now available as online e-books via the Boston College Libraries.

• Encyclopedia of Religion, Communication, and Media
• The Sourcebook of Nonverbal Measures
• What Were They Thinking? Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless
• Routledge Handbook of Internet Politics
• Television Studies: The Key Concepts
• The Television Handbook
• Handbook of Visual Communication: Theory, Methods, and Media
• Narrative Methods for Organizational and Communication Research

One BC person at a time can use any one of these books, which the library purchases from an e-book publisher called eBrary. The books can be read online without any special software, but an easy-to-install eBrary Reader plug-in is required to print or cut and paste from the e-books. (On Windows Vista machines, the plug-in works with Internet Explorer only.)

This is a new type of resource for the library. Tell me what you think and please let me know about any problems with using the online books.

Messages with a Mission, Embedded in TV Shows

The New York Times reports how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is expanding its efforts as "a behind-the-scenes influencer of public attitudes...helping to shape story lines and insert messages into popular entertainment..." The Foundation, according to the Times, has helped put messages about H.I.V. prevention, surgical safety and the spread of infectious diseases into such shows as “ER,” “Law & Order: SVU” and “Private Practice.”

Now the Gates Foundation is set to expand its involvement and spend more money on influencing popular culture through a deal with Viacom, the parent company of MTV and its sister networks VH1, Nickelodeon and BET. It could be called “message placement”: the social or philanthropic corollary to product placement deals in which marketers pay to feature products in shows and movies. Instead of selling Coca-Cola or G.M. cars, they promote education and healthy living.

Read the full article here.