For the next couple of days, I am focused on synthesizing research regarding the changing cultural landscape of today's college student.  I will post a few of the resources that have captured my attention and may be worth your time to peruse. 
The first is Lost in Transition, by Christian Smith, along with Hillary Davidson, Kari Christofferson and Patricia Snell Herzog (08-04-2011).
Based on their on-going studies of teenagers who have now become "emerging adults", Smith explores the "darker side of emerging adulthood". The chapters are:

1. Morality Adrift
2. Captives to Consumerism
3. Intoxications: Fake Feelings of Happiness
4. The Shadow Side of the Sexual Revolution
5. Civic & Political Disengagement

While sociological "data" can be extracted from each chapter, the writing focuses around in-depth personal interviews with 230 emerging adults, enabling us to understand, even empathize with the world of the 18-23 year-old (the narrower focus of this present study).  
Great insights into the world of today's college student.  ...

More »

Leave a Comment

USA Today recently published a fascinating graphical depiction of faith in the USA: The Topography of Faith. Based on research done by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the map presents the overall view of the US and yields individual views for each state as you scroll over.  Makes for a fascinating few minutes as you try to guess-timate the religious topography of different states and regions.

How did you do?

Leave a Comment

Will you be traveling to a country soon and want to know the local news?  Maybe you like to read news reports in order to pray more effectively or to practice your second language.  Would you enjoy reading your hometown paper?  Visit NewspaperMap.com for 10,000 newspapers in almost every country of the world in more than seventy languages.

Search for newspapers by name, place, or language. (Click on the image above to see the color key for the different languages.  Just out of curiosity, I checked New York City and found Yiddish, Portuguese, and Greek newspapers.)   No matter what the published language, you may even be able to send the paper directly to Google Translate with one click.    Learn more on NewspaperMap.com’s help page.

Also available:

• German version Zeitungskarte
• Japanese version 新聞地図 -世界のすべてのオンライン新聞

Filed under: eZ tips, nonEnglish links, research, Spanish links, travel, website Tagged: Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Google, internet, North Ame...

More »

Leave a Comment

This is a fascinating video telling the story of 200 countries over 200 years. Educational, without a doubt. But entertaining in the process!

Thanks, Hans Rosling & the BBC. Thanks, Gary, for bringing it to my attention.

Leave a Comment

Pew Survey: Teens Love Facebook, Hate Blogging, Are Always Online, and Don't Use Twitter

Leave a Comment