jennifer.l.gregg.phd

A month ago, or so, I got a call from Dawn Kawamoto, a reporter at CNET, asking about Telewindows, a study I worked on at Michigan State. Well, the story is out, and guess what? We’ve come along way with videoconferencing, but we still have a long way to go. Basically, in 2001 we tried to use POTS-based videoconferencing to connect senior citizens back into their social networks. It worked, but obviously the technology was limited. Well, it’s more than 5 years later, and “videoconferencing is very limited” says an engineer working on a videoconferencing package for the elderly. I’m just glad to hear that people are still working in this area.

I don’t know where the summer went, but it’s already time for a new semester. I got a last-minute surprise…a new class. I’m teaching Communication 327, Media Effects. It’s not entirely new, though. I was the teaching assistant for the same class, 10 years ago, at Michigan State. At that time, the professor was Brad Greenberg (Dr. Greenberg to most of us…as we were terrified of him!) I actually found my notes from 10 years ago. It’s really fun looking through them…here’s what we were talking about back then:

• The typical American home had 2.3 TV sets (Today: 2.4)
• Cable television was in about 2/3 homes (Today: more than 85%)
• Between 35-40% of homes had a computer (Today: more than 75%…and about 50% have broadband Internet access…BUT…Pew reports that more that 20% of American adults have never used the Internet or email)

Other interesting (scary???) thoughts:

• The average adult today watches about 3 hours and 45 minutes of television per day. On average, parents spend about 38.5 minutes per week in meaningful conversation with their children.
• The number of videos rented per day in the U.S.: 6 million; the number of items checked out from the public library: 3 million.
• Percentage of Americans who can name the Three Stooges: 59; percentage who can name three Supreme Court Justices: 17.

Welcome to a new semester!

What a nice way to round out finals week. I received notices from Telecommunication Policy and Communication Teacher that articles under review were accepted. A very nice way to start the summer.