The research I do overlays the subjects I teach. Below are links to several articles I've written over the past few years.  Presently, I'm working on a book that centers on news, new media and how many grassroots groups are using vehicles like the internet to circumvent the gatekeeping of major traditional media. With the articles listed below, I provide a capsule description so you have some idea beyond the title of what's discussed. My full dossier of publications is in my c.v. indexed on the left column of this page. You'll have to mine the library or write me for some of these others.

Communication and Community Development for Health Information reviews the literature on community development of healthcare programs and discusses evaluation strategies for assessing projects based on newer telecommunications technologies. This report provided background and training information for rural healthcare practitioners in the Pacific Northwest.

Fatal Filters: Software Deterrents to Expression on the Web examines most commercial web "filters" and monitoring software for their disclosure key facts about their internal operation. Does the software signal its operation to the user? Can purchasers find out key words and sites blocked easily by examining master lists. Is there an ability to include useful sites mistakenly banned? And are adults and children subjected to the same level of censoring?  These features are explained and evaluated. Remedial steps are described. 

Circle of Health Phase One studies eight Washington State Native American communities on the effects of high speed data and Internet service to tribal health clinics. Communities serve as time-staggered "panels" to see if there is healthcare improvement as a result of better, faster information from medical libraries, key medical centers and public health data access.  

The Satellite Home Viewing Act: The Clash of Public Technologies with Private Rights poses broad issues of rural telecommunications access in conflict with the intellectual property rights of regional broadcasters in the US. The SHVA is an obscure law that has darkened network television access via satellite for up to 10 million households.

Tradition, Confusion and Multimedia considers the process of technological convergence, the coming together of diverse media forms in a common digital denominator. I review here the differing marketing, technical standards development, operating margins and trade groups of five key industries that are merging. The point is to identify problems as slow, low margin industries meet rapidly changing, highly competitive ones. The article is somewhat dated, but the issues are not.

High Definition Television. This paper, "Immaculate Reception," is about the turmoil that surrounded standards for new, high-definition television in the U.S. Though it's a bit dated in terms of recent issues such as reception problems and conversion schedules, the paper outlines thoroughly the early controversy and issues leading to the first high definition television standards.  The story continues.

Conclusions to Access Denied, Version 2, follow-up report on the status of Internet filtering software and the status of minority representation. Tracking initial findings of a study completed in 1997, this study examines changes in the ability of gays and lesbians to have on-line voices without being the target of filtering software that silently excludes them. In brief, because laws censoring content at the source have failed in the courts, filter software has increasingly been forced (and installed) on school and library computers, removing content at the consumer end. Regrettably, much of this software is clumsy and simply prejudicial. This report examines trends in filtering and their effect on the gay community. A full report is available from GLAAD.

Gays, Lesbians and Consumer Behavior.  Out of the Closet and into the Marketplace based on a large survey of Seattle's gay/lesbian population I completed several years ago. Gays have become a hot marketing niche in the past five years: lots of travel, health food, clothing and services used. But, as the article maintains, marketing to this group isn't a matter of repeating mainstream appeals. There is a painful history to be considered as well as some alienation from mainstream ideals. The article considered these differences in light of the survey data. This work has also stimulated my interest in how new media can be used (and misused) by those seeking minority or "niche" audiences.