research

BYU students often have problems during the wintertime, but soon, for a lucky few, the cold will not be one of them. Next winter semester, during the summer months of the southern hemisphere, about 20 students will travel throughout New Zealand in a new study abroad program that focuses on media and culture, entitled “New Zealand: Global Mass Communication.” In addition to shadowing professionals from several New Zealand media outlets, students will create and publish content that investigates the issues surrounding the Maori, Pasifika and other minority communities in New Zealand. Dr. Clark Callahan, co-faculty director of the program, hopes that students will seize not only the opportunity to grow their portfolios but also to develop an empathetic worldview as they explore different cultures. “My area of interest is how social media affects cultures, so we’ll have a couple of research projects going on. We’ll be interviewing minority populations about how they use social media and what they get out of it. We’ll ask, ‘Does it strengthen or weaken their culture and their cultural perspectives?’” Dr. Callahan said. As part of their research, students will be paired with and embedded in Samoan families for a week. Students will record their experiences in video diaries that will be used to produce a documentary film highlighting the efforts of different organizations to preserve the Maori, Pasifika, and Samoan languages and culture. Steve Thomsen, co-faculty director, believes that New Zealand offers a diverse setting for students to study and create media. “We wanted to create an experience that would be as diverse as possible for students,” said Thomsen. “The objective of the study abroad will be to focus a lot of our efforts on the Pacifica and Maori peoples through the lens of media and the perspective that it if offers,” said Thomsen. The media that students create will be used as programming for the Pacific Media Network and will be published on the student-run website, fightforthefew.org. The latter outlet is currently being developed by the Media Advocacy and Social Change class, which is taught by Dr. Callahan. Hannah Lunt, a senior public relations student in the class, hopes that all these efforts–the class, the website, the study abroad–will help others increase their awareness about minority issues. “I have already seen a difference in how much more aware I am,” said Lunt. “I hope the blog will grow and be a voice to change.” Applications are available through the Kennedy Center’s International Study Programs website, kennedy.byu.edu, and are due Oct. 9 at 5 p.m.

Notes from Mormon Pulitzer Prize winner shed new light on historic court moment Deseret News

First major study to examine Weir family's collective artistic production Marian Wardle, curator of American Art for the Brigham Young University Museum of Art, has received the W.E. Fischelis Award from the Victorian Society in America for her work as editor and co-author of the book, 'The Weir Family, 1820-1920: Expanding the Traditions of American Art.'

Looking for a few quick tips to help you better belt out Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer during this year's Christmas caroling? BYU music professor Arden Hopkin has just the thing for you.

Claire Thomson, head of the Department of Scandinavian Studies at University College London, will deliver the annual Loftur Bjarnason lecture Wednesday, March 30, at 3 p.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building at Brigham Young University. Thomson's lecture will be titled 'Of Bridges, Boulders and Bacteria: Cultures of Nature and Technology in Carl Theodor Dreyer's Short Films for Dansk Kulturfilm, 1942—1954' and is sponsored by Scandinavian Studies and the Center for the Study of Europe at the David M. Kennedy for International Studies. Her research centers on post-humanist theory and ecocriticism in cinematic and literary contexts. She is the director of Norvik Press, editor for 'Scandinavica,' and organizes the optional modules Cinema and Nation and Nordic Cinema for the master's degree in film studies. She most recently edited 'Northern Constellations: New Readings in Nordic Cinema,' and several of her works on Nordic and Scottish literature and film have appeared in various books and journals. Previously, Thomson was acting director of the graduate program in film studies and lectured in Scandinavian studies at the University of East Anglia for four years before joining UCL as a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in 2004, in connection with the 'Identities and Culture in Europe since 1945' research program. Thomson received an master's degree in modern European languages and European Union studies, a master's degree in the practice and theory of translation and a doctorate in Scandinavian studies from the University of Edinburgh. For more information, contact Lee Simons at (801) 422-2652 or lee_simons@byu.edu. Follow BYU events on Twitter: @BYUcalendar. Source: BYU News

New book by BYU professor shows how jazz icon was viewed in his early days From 1925 to 1928, jazz artist Louis Armstrong and his band made a set of recordings now considered some of the most revolutionary and influential recordings in American music.

For book to accompany upcoming exhibit on the Weir Family

Music professor Michael Hicks understands the importance of repetition.

KBYU Eleven's 'Beehive Stories' chronicles life in Utah

A generation ago PG films like Ghostbusters, Back to the Future and Top Gun dominated at the box office, but more than half of what Hollywood serves up these days is rated R. That's what got BYU economics students Jared Shores and Craig Palsson interested in whether a movie's rating affects its revenue. The students conducted a statistical analysis of budget and box office figures of major American films from 1995 to the present. Additionally, the data set included the level of foul language, sex and violence in each movie (courtesy of ratings services ScreenIt and Kids-in-Mind). The number-crunching reveals a few things that do connect ratings to profitability: - PG and PG-13 movies bring a similar return; both make more money than R films - Movies on the edge of PG and PG-13 make more money if they get a PG rating - Movies on the edge of PG-13 and R make more money if they get the PG-13 rating While interesting, these findings don't yet explain the scarcity of family films. Craig notes that the Motion Picture Association of America is not terribly consistent, making it tough for directors and studios to 'game the system.' Jared notes that in some cases investors ought to push for a film to be re-cut and resubmitted to get the more profitable MPAA rating. Under the mentorship of economics professor Joe Price, Jared and Craig are preparing their research for publication. A native of Montrose, Colorado, Jared aims for a career in the business side of Hollywood as an entertainment consultant. He names The Goonies as his all-time favorite movie. 'It encapsulates what I wanted to be as a kid, and the kinds of films I want to help develop someday,' Jared said. Jared will complete his bachelor's degree this December. Craig plans to graduate in April 2012. ORCA grants: What they are and how to get one Every year BYU awards several hundred undergraduates $1,500 for a research or creative project of their own choosing. While the projects span a wide range of fields, they all involve mentored learning outside the classroom. The skills and experience gained along the way open doors to grad schools, employers and entrepreneurship. Mentored learning is part of why BYU ranks in the Top 10 nationally in terms of where new Ph.D.s received their undergraduate degrees — and why BYU is a top feeder school for law, medicine and dentistry. ORCA is accepting applications through October 29. Click here to find out more about ORCA grants. __________________________________________ Follow BYU News on Twitter: twitter.com/byu Source: BYU News

by Todd Hollingshead 'Toe Fo'i Mai (To Return)' to air again Thursday, June 18, on BYU-TV

by Todd Hollingshead The hit television show 'Dancing with the Stars' has been around only a few years, but a new study by a Brigham Young University researcher shows that a different type of dancing with the stars happening in the late 1920s may have shaped jazz music as we know it. In an article appearing in the current issue of the Journal of the American Musicological Society, music professor Brian Harker shows that a partnership with a jittering, jiving, dancing duo may have heavily influenced the rhythms of Louis Armstrong, widely recognized as one of the most influential jazz musicians of all time. Harker's article provides evidence that Armstrong's jazz trumpeting actually took on a more free flowing, innovative and flexible style due to his performing duets with the dancers. 'The dancing seems to have pushed jazz in a new direction,' said Harker, who notes that dance's role in the development of early jazz music has not been well understood. Between the summer of 1926 and the summer of 1927, Armstrong entered into a partnership at Chicago's Sunset Café with a husband-and-wife dance team called Brown and McGraw. Armstrong played his trumpet onstage with the dancers, playing rehearsed--though not written--solos that closely matched their steps, movements or facial expressions. 'This couple introduced rhythmic dance movements to Armstrong, which opened up the way to more complicated dance steps,' Harker said. 'And the rhythm of those steps may have changed the way Armstrong performed himself.' During the time of their musical collaboration, Armstrong retuned his approach to rhythm. Whereas previously he tended to rely on more or less fixed rhythms, his recordings in late 1926 and 1927 reveal a style that is free and flexible. This rhythm became the foundation for the new jazz language that emerged in the Swing Era. 'For Harker to be able to piece together what the eccentric dance of the time was like and how it influenced a major player at a turning point in jazz history is truly remarkable,' said Kate van Orden, editor for theJournal of the American Musicological Society and professor of music at the University of California-Berkeley. 'It's masterful work in every respect - its methodological conception, archival research, music analysis and presentation.' Harker uncovered this little known partnership between Armstrong and Brown and McGraw during a research sabbatical in New York City in 2005 and 2006. While digging through an interview with a trumpet player named Doc Cheatham, Harker found references to this partnership. From there, Harker went on a treasure hunt and found additional sources from newspapers, clippings in Armstrong's scrapbooks, census records and a 1926 court case between Brown and McGraw and a club in which they performed. Harker also tracked down a living nephew of the dancing couple who provided additional personal information. Harker learned that Armstrong not only accompanied the duo, but he also worked out solos based on their dancing. 'Big Butter and Egg Man' is one such solo that may have been influenced in this way. A quote from Armstrong on the collaboration is cited in the paper: 'There was the team of Brown and McGraw -- they did a jazz dance that just wouldn't quit. I'd blow for their act, and every step they made, I put the notes to it.' Harker said this finding led to the discovery of other examples of jazz trumpet soloists not only working with dancers, but also getting on stages and performing along with them. It took the BYU researcher two years to harmonize the research and write the paper. It includes the first scholarly writings about Brown and McGraw, a duo that faded out when they couldn't translate their act to movies and radio. This is not the first time Harker has researched Armstrong. The music history and theory professor, who also plays the jazz trumpet, first started studying Armstrong while working on his Ph.D. dissertation. He won the 1999 Irving Lowens Award for his article, ''Telling a Story': Louis Armstrong and Coherence in Early Jazz,' published by Current Musicology. Source: BYU News

by Brian Rust The College of Family, Home and Social Sciences at Brigham Young University will host the 2nd Annual Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Student Research Conference Thursday, April 13, from 11 a.m. to noon and 2 to 3 p.m. in 3220-3224 Wilkinson Student Center. Admission is free and the public is welcome. The conference will showcase research projects through student poster displays. Judges will determine the best posters, and winners will receive cash prizes. The research conference began in 2005 with the creation of the Mary Lou Fulton Chair in Family, Home and Social Sciences. Other components of the chair include mentored-learning fellowships, support for student travel to academic conferences, internship support, computing and technology support, the Mary Lou Fulton Young Scholar Award, the Mary Lou Fulton Professorship and need-based tuition grants for disabled children to attend BYU’s preschool and kindergarten. For more information, contact Scott Dunaway at (801) 422-6029. Source: BYU News

Many children with developmental disabilities have limited means of communicating their everyday experiences, thoughts and feelings. However, researchers from Brigham Young University have recognized that snapshot photography can open a whole new world of expression.

Documentary filmmaker Kevin Brownlow will speak at a special screening of his feature-length documentary on legendary filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille Wednesday, Feb. 2, at 7 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library Auditorium.

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