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  • 9 Questions About Facebook and Data Sharing You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask

    April 10, 2018

    Ian Bogost, professor at the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the Vox, April 10, article, “9 Questions About Facebook and Data Sharing You Were Too Embarrassed To Ask.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Baby pictures, vacation check-ins, your new job announcement — they all seem like innocuous posts to mark simple milestones. But your personal life is Facebook’s business. Those data points, taken together, build a powerful (and lucrative) profile of who you are and what you value. That’s perhaps one of the most important lessons from the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the revelation that the firm may harvested data from as many as 87 million Facebook users. But Cambridge Analytica is far from the only firm that gained access to vast amounts of users’ personal information. “There are certainly thousands, if not millions, of applications that had similar access and collected similar data — and many are still doing it, although under different terms,” Ian Bogost, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology and contributing editor to the Atlantic, told Vox.

    For the full article, visit the Vox website.

    Published in: The Vox

    Ian Bogost
  • 2001, 50 Years Later

    April 6, 2018

    Jay Telotte, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Science Magazine, April 6, article, “2001, 50 Years Later.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Fifty years after its appearance, 2001: A Space Odyssey remains a film that commands attention. This is partly because of its status as the most influential science fiction movie ever made; partly because of the ever-growing reputation of its director, Stanley Kubrick; and partly because it has always been a work that confounds easy interpretation—and so readily opens itself to multiple interpretations. Michael Benson's Space Odyssey, an epic-like account of the film's planning, making, and reception, will hardly answer all of the questions that haunt it, but his thoroughly researched, multivoiced narrative should become essential reading for anyone wanting to penetrate the mysteries that continue to swirl around this work and its creator. Written by Jay Telotte, Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    For the full article, visit the Science Magazine website.

    Published in: Science Magazine

    Jay Telotte
  • Remembering a Slugger Named Mickey Mantle

    April 1, 2018

    Johnny Smith, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology (HSOC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was mentioned in The Washington Times, April 1, article “Remembering a Slugger Named Mickey Mantle.” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    A joyful fringe benefit of baseball fandom is memories of games past. And reading this book took me back to my first major league games the summer of 1956, as a young soldier stationed in Baltimore. A slugger named Mickey Mantle, of the New York Yankees, was terrorizing American League pitchers while delighting fans nationwide who felt they were witnessing the emergence of “the new Babe Ruth.” One evening at the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, an Oriole pitcher served up a fast ball to the muscular Mr. Mantle’s liking. CRACK! The ball vanished over the left field wall and seemed destined to come to earth somewhere near the city limits of Bethesda. I exaggerate, of course, but such is the privilege of a fan who worships the national pastime. And anyone who loves the sport will find hours of undiluted joy in one of the best books on baseball — or any other sport — that I have encountered. In addition to being astute fans, the authors are also professors — Randy Roberts at Purdue University, and Johnny Smith at Georgia Tech. Their intensive research is backed by brisk writing that lets this reader sense he was sitting in a prime third-base-line seat.

    For the full article, visit The Washington Times website.

    Published in: The Washington Times

    Johnny Smith
  • Enough With the Trolley Problem

    March 30, 2018

    Ian Bogost, professor at the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote The Atlantic, March 30, article, “Enough With the Trolley Problem.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Should an autonomous car endanger a driver over a pedestrian? What about an elderly person over a child? If the car can access information about nearby drivers it might collide with, should it use that data to make a decision? The trolley problem has become so popular in autonomous-vehicle circles, in fact, that MIT engineers have built a crowdsourced version of it, called Moral Machine, which purports to catalog human opinion on how future robotic apparatuses should respond in various conditions. But there’s a problem with the trolley problem. It does a remarkably bad job addressing the moral conditions of robot cars, boats, or workers, the domains to which it is most popularly applied today. Deploying it for those ends, especially as a source of answers or guidance for engineering or policy, leads to incomplete and dangerous conclusions about the ethics of machines. Written by Ian Bogost, contributing editor at The Atlantic. He is the Ivan Allen College Distinguished Chair in media studies and a professor of interactive computing at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

    For the full article, visit The Atlantic website.

    Published in: The Atlantic

    Ian Bogost
  • The Reign of Lew Alcindor in the Age of Revolt

    March 30, 2018

    Johnny Smith, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology (HSOC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote The Undefeated, March 30, article, “The Reign of Lew Alcindor in the Age of Revolt.” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is known as one of the greatest basketball players in history. During his 20-year professional career with the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Lakers, he appeared in 19 All-Star Games, won six championships and collected six MVP awards. In retirement, he has become a prominent cultural commentator and writer, a leading voice on the intersection between sports and politics. Recently, he published a memoir about his collegiate career at UCLA, Coach Wooden and Me: Our 50-Year Friendship On and Off the Court. Fifty years ago he was the most dominant college basketball player America had ever seen. Between 1967 and 1969, he led UCLA to three consecutive national titles and an 88-2 record. Yet, his legacy transcends the game; in the age of Black Power, he redefined the political role of black college athletes. In 1968, when black collegians debated boycotting the Olympics, Lew Alcindor, as he was then still known, emerged as the most prominent face in the revolt on campus. Why did Alcindor refuse to play in the Olympics? To answer that question we have to return to Harlem, New York, in July 1964, the first of many long, hot summers. Written by Johnny Smith, Julius C. "Bud" Shaw Professor of Sports, Society, and Technology and an Assistant Professor of History at Georgia Tech.

    For the full article, visit The Undefeated website.

    Published in: The Undefeated

    Johnny Smith
  • Why Are Sportswriters Whitewashing Baseball’s Dark Secrets

    March 29, 2018

    Johnny Smith, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology (HSOC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Daily Beast, March 29, article, “Why Are Sportswriters Whitewashing Baseball’s Dark Secrets?” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    The results are in. Cooperstown has a new class. On Jan. 24, 2018, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted, electing Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman to the Hall of Fame.  Once again, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Manny Ramirez, three superstars of the past whom the writers have branded “cheaters,” finished out of the running, and poor Sammy Sosa was so far down the list that he now will have to buy a ticket on StubHub to get into Wrigley Field. Baseball’s Fourth Estate, the sanctified moral arbiters of the national pastime, have spoken with righteous clarity. For more than a decade, since former Sen. George J. Mitchell’s investigation implicated 89 Major League players for using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), baseball writers have tried to reclaim the mythical purity of the game. Written by Johnny Smith, Julius C. “Bud” Shaw Professor of Sports, Society, and Technology and an Assistant Professor of History at Georgia Tech.

    For the full article, visit the Daily Beast website.

    Published in: The Daily Beast

    Johnny Smith
  • What Facebook Doesn’t Tell You About Information it Collects

    March 25, 2018

    Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the PBS News Hour, March 25, article, “What Facebook Doesn’t Tell You About Information it Collects.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    To get an idea of the data Facebook collects about you, just ask for it … Facebook’s privacy practices have come under fire after a Trump-affiliated political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, got data inappropriately from millions of Facebook users … Ian Bogost, a Georgia Tech communications professor who built a tongue-in-cheek game called “Cow Clicker” in 2010, wrote in The Atlantic recently that abusing the Facebook platform for “deliberately nefarious ends” was easy to do then. What’s worse, he said, it was hard to avoid extracting private data. If “you played Cow Clicker, even just once, I got enough of your personal data that, for years, I could have assembled a reasonably sophisticated profile of your interests and behavior,” he wrote.

    For the full article, visit the PBS News Hour website.

    Published in: PBS News Hour

    Ian Bogost
  • Cow Clicker’ Developer: Facebook's Response To Complaints Is Too Late

    March 24, 2018

    Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was interviewed in the NPR, March 24, article, “‘Cow Clicker’ Developer: Facebook's Response To Complaints Is Too Late.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    NPR’s Scott Simon talks with Ian Bogost about data collected from Facebook-connected apps. In 2010, Bogost launched Cow Clicker, a parody game that inadvertently collected a lot of user information.

    For the full article, visit the NPR website.

    Published in: NPR

    Ian Bogost
  • Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn On Trump, North Korea Meeting

    March 14, 2018

    Sam Nunn, distinguished professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, was interviewed in “Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn On Trump, North Korea Meeting” by WABE. The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Last week, the White House said President Trump would meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The announcement came after months of tension between Trump and Kim over North Korea’s nuclear program.

    Former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn has been watching North Korea’s growing nuclear capability for years. He is co chair of the Nuclear Threat Initiative and chaired the Armed Services Committee during his 24 years in the Senate.

    Nunn joined Denis O’Hayer on “Morning Edition” to talk about what could come from the historic meeting between the two world leaders.

    For the full audio clip, visit the WABE website.

    Published in: WABE

    Sam Nunn
  • Does Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hurt Economic Growth

    March 12, 2018

    Eren Cifci, a doctoral student in Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Economics, was quoted in the Futurity, March 12, article, “Does Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Hurt Economic Growth?” The School of Economics is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    The Kyoto Protocol cut greenhouse gas emissions in nations that signed the agreement, but also may have slowed economic growth, new research suggests. Political wrangling over international agreements to curb climate change tends to be divisive. Just look at the reactions to the recent decision by President Donald Trump to withdraw from the Paris Agreement… Their findings? “The Kyoto Protocol was successful in terms of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions, but has also had economic impacts, slowing down per capita GDP growth,” says Eren Cifci, a master’s student in Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Economics.

    For the full article, visit the Futurity website.

    Published in: The Futurity

    Eren Cifci
  • How Science Fiction Films Like ‘Black Panther’ and ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Embrace Femininity

    March 9, 2018

    Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in The Washington Post, March 9, article, “How Science Fiction Films Like ‘Black Panther’ and ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ Embrace Femininity.” The School of Literature Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    In the first act of “Annihilation,” Natalie Portman’s character, a biologist and Army veteran named Lena, joins a crew planning to venture into Area X, a mysterious stretch of land surrounded by a translucent rainbow entity called the Shimmer. Multiple investigative teams have entered the Shimmer before, only to never be heard from again. So who are these undeterred explorers? Anya (Gina Rodriguez), a paramedic; Josie (Tessa Thompson), a physicist; Cass (Tuva Novotny), an anthropologist; and Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a psychologist… Like the Dora Milaje of “Black Panther” or time-traveling Meg Murry of “A Wrinkle in Time,” the scientists are shaped by their professions and gender. These recently released films dispute a mainstream perception of science fiction as a masculine genre, using feminine costumes and environments to build the strong-willed characters. Nothing will stop these women from overcoming the perilous obstacles ahead of them. “They stand up in the face of danger and shake their fists and say, ‘You won’t beat us,’ ” said Lisa Yaszek, a professor of science fiction studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Science fiction has been shaped by women since its inception: English novelist Mary Shelley, who first published “Frankenstein” nearly 200 years ago, is widely credited as its founder. Though still dominated by men when it hopped across the pond in the early 20th century, according to Yaszek, the genre “was never just about boys and their toys.” She estimated that from the 1920s to the 1970s, women made up about 15 percent of those working in the genre — or as much as 30 percent, if you include looser forms like fantasy.
     

    For the full article, visit The Washington Post website.

    Published in: The Washington Post

    Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communications (Photo by Georgia Tech)
  • Hip-Hop Is Our Vibranium

    March 8, 2018

    Joycelyn Wilson, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote The Bitter Southerner, March 8 article, “Hip-Hop Is Our Vibranium.” The School of Literature Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Leading up to the soundtrack’s release, “Legend Has It” — produced by the interracial rap duo Run The Jewels — was licensed as the sonic backdrop for the “Black Panther” movie trailer.  The song and trailer teased us during the 2017 NBA Finals, introducing RTJ to audiences who knew nothing about them — like the students at Atlanta’s Ron Clark Academy, who burst into a dance set after learning they’d get a chance to see the Marvel movie. The song is recognized for Killer Mike and El-P’s futuristic riffs and exhortations to “step into the spotlight.”

    “Legend Has It” also provides the soundtrack for the “Black Panther” Lexus commercial, where King T’Challa, his sister Shuri, and members of the Dora Milaje drive the LS 500 F Sport to secure some stolen vibranium.

    All of this multilinear storytelling and rap-music marketing is layered with hip-hop’s African roots, its Cali sensibilities, and its Southern aesthetics. Together, they contribute to the ongoing box office success of the film, which is fast approach $1 billion in global ticket sales.

    The music of “Black Panther” makes clear that hip-hop itself is the vibranium of the time.

    For the full article, visit The Bitter Southerner website.

    Published in: The Bitter Southerner

    Joycelyn Wilson
  • Sci Fi Flops

    March 6, 2018

    Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was interviewed in the Geeks and Beats, March 6, podcast, “Sci-Fi Flops.” The School of Literature Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    Why is it “smart” science fiction bombs at the box office but candy floss like Guardians of the Galaxy brings in the big bucks? Insight from Georgia Tech Professor of Science Fiction Studies Lisa Yaszek.

    To listen to the full radio segment, visit the Geeks and Beats website.

    Published in: Geeks and Beats

    Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communications (Photo by Georgia Tech)
  • We Don’t Need Robots That Resemble Humans

    March 1, 2018

    Ian Bogost, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the Medium, March 1, article, “We Don’t Need Robots That Resemble Humans.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    It’s human nature to perceive robots as having human features and exhibiting human behavior. Anthropomorphic inclinations are in our DNA, and engineers can’t override this tendency. What roboticists can do is help us better cope with cognitive biases and better address social ones. To accomplish these goals, they should embrace a postmodern aesthetic. Bots should be designed like Deadpool — the graphic novel–adapted cinematic antihero who constantly breaks the fourth wall by reminding the movie audience that he knows he’s a superhero character in a superhero movie… Let’s consider popular digital assistants, like Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and Microsoft’s Cortana. Ian Bogost, the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts distinguished chair in media studies at the Georgia Institute of Technology, recently argued in the Atlantic that their design is the source of #genderfails: The bots’ very names ring gendered bells; the bots perform service-based labor that has been historically associated with stereotypes of women’s work and women’s emotional labor; and the bots can only ignore or disengage from sexist language, a far cry from real feminist ideals. Bogost concludes: “Maybe the best way to represent women as technological apparatuses is to avoid doing so in the first place.” Agreed!

    For the full article, visit the Medium website.

     

     

    Published in: The Medium

    Ian Bogost
  • An Antidote to Rote Learning

    March 1, 2018

    Anustup Nayak, alumnus of the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, wrote the Forbes India, March 1, article, “An Antidote to Rote Learning.” The School of Public Policy is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    “Show me all the possible ways in which four friends, who go to a movie theater, can sit together in a row.”

    Harvard professor Eleanor Duckworth asked this simple question that stumped me fifteen years ago. The problem seemed simple to me at first. I responded with “4 factorial (4 X 3 X 2 X 1) equals 24,” a formula I had memorized since twelfth grade. Then Prof. Duckworth added a small twist, “Take these four colored beads so that I can see how you came up with your answer.” My mind went blank. I could not visualize how I could arrange those beads. I had memorized the factorial formula by rote without understanding what it meant. Not much has changed in the thirty years since I finished school.

    Rote learning is like cancer. It is eating away at the future of India’s 250 million school-going children. Only 40 percent of our 14-18-year-olds can calculate the price of a shirt sold at a 10 percent discount. Less than 60 percent can read the time from an analog clock. These are the sobering findings of the Pratham Annual Status of Education (ASER) 2017 report. Even students in well-regarded private schools are not much better off. The Wipro-Educational Initiatives study conducted in 2008 found that they lag international benchmarks on understanding critical Math and Science concepts.

    For the entire article, visit the Forbes India Website.

     

    Published in: Forbes India

    Anustup Nayak
  • There Was A 1908 Board Game About Women Fighting Cops In The Streets.

    February 28, 2018

    Renee Shelby, doctoral student in the School of History and Sociology at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the Kotaku Australia, February 28, article, “There Was A 1908 Board Game About Women Fighting Cops In The Streets.” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.
     

    Excerpt:

    Over 100 years ago, a board game was released called Suffragetto. The game pitted Suffragettes –women seeking the right to vote – against London police, with players basically orchestrating running street battles between the groups. It's easy to look at the setting as a sensationalized product of the times – oh no, the women are rebelling! – but there's historical grounds for the combative setting, with the movement in the U.K. (women wouldn’t be granted full voting rights until 1928) characterized by an escalation from peaceful protest to acts of arson and even bombings… “Suffragetto is a way to interact with the kind of physical feminism promoted by the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), through leisure, and enacts feminist ideology in a hybrid fantasy-real world environment. Further, it allows players to experiment with alternative forms of resistance.” Renee M. Shelby, doctoral student in the School of History and Sociology (HSOC), Georgia Institute of Technology
     

    For the full article, visit the Kotaku Australia website.

     

    Published in: Kotaku Australia

    Renee Shelby
  • The Syria – North Korea Connection and What it Means for Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation

    February 27, 2018

    Margaret Kosal, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at Georgia Institute of Technology, appeared on CNN International, Tuesday, February 27, for an interview on the Syria – North Korea connection and what it means for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) proliferation. Kosal talked about the implications that Syria is attempting to restart its chemical weapons production capabilities, including possibly for nerve agents with the help of North Korea based on findings in a United Nations (UN) report.

    Excerpt:

    For those who have long watched North Korea and its behavior internationally of ignoring international law and pursuing arms trade, this is not unexpected. This may be a real test for the Chemical Weapons Convention and the international community. So far there have been no significant consequences for the Syrian regime for their ongoing violations of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). There’s no evidence that the Syrian regime is worried about international inspectors, the area is not accessible to inspectors, and the Syrian regimes seems to be unconcerned even if international observers had access to the area. They are protected by their allies, Russia and Iran.

    Kosal also noted that while all responsibility for chemical weapons use firmly lays with Syria and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), on the U.S. side, our diplomats need to be empowered and supported. The U.S. needs to be engaged diplomatically.

    The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Published in: CNN International

    Margaret Kosal
  • Horsepox Virus Creation, Aimed at Smallpox Vaccine, Stirs Controversy

    February 26, 2018

    Margaret Kosal, associate professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, wrote an excerpt on the biosecurity controversy surrouding the recreation of the extinct horsepox virus that was feautred in in the Infectious Disease News, February 26, article, “Horsepox Virus Creation, Aimed at Smallpox Vaccine, Stirs Controversy.” The Sam Nunn School of International Affairs is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    In the recent article “Construction of an infectious horsepox virus vaccine from chemically synthesized DNA fragments,” which appeared in PLoS One, the University of Alberta’s Dr. David Evans and colleagues report “the first complete synthesis of a pox virus using synthetic biology approaches,” specifically the extinct horsepox virus, and a potential candidate for development of a new vaccine against smallpox. The underlying research has been the subject of discussion within the biosecurity community for over a year, since Evans presented details of his work on synthesizing the virus to the World Health Organization (WHO) Advisory Committee on Variola Virus Research in November 2016.

    Evans had reportedly gone through all the biosafety and biosecurity procedures required by the Canadian government and his university before starting the research. All evidence indicates that everything was done properly and more than sufficiently. So, what’s the concern?

    The concern is one that has been seen before, most notably with the successful chemical synthesis of polio virus in 2001 and the reconstruction of the influenza A (N1N1) virus responsible for the 1918 Spanish flu in 2005. The concern is that the techniques and methods might be hijacked for more malicious use in the development of biological weapons. It is the dual-use conundrum of cutting-edge science, especially synthetic biology in the 21st century.

    For the full article, visit the Infectious Disease News website.

     

    Published in: The Infectious Disease News

    Margaret Kosal
  • Why Smart Sci-fi Struggles to Find its Audience in a ‘Star Wars’ World

    February 20, 2018

    Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the USA Today, February 20, article, “Why Smart Sci-fi Struggles to Find its Audience in a ‘Star Wars’ World.” The School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:
     

    There’s a renaissance of smart, original science fiction happening in movie theaters. If only the box-office receipts were as impressive. While entertaining space operas like Star Wars and Guardians of the Galaxy rack up the cash, sci-fi films that tend toward the intellectual — about mankind’s dealings with androids, aliens and technology — just aren’t clicking with mainstream audiences … Not all audiences embrace every kind of sci-fi, according to Lisa Yaszek, professor of science-fiction studies at Georgia Tech. Star Wars movies in particular represent a branch that focuses on humans being the center of the world: “They have more universal challenges. This is very much about the struggles between fathers and sons, quests for love and justice,” she says. 

    For the full article, visit the USA Today website.

    Published in: USA Today

    Lisa Yaszek, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communications (Photo by Georgia Tech)
  • Black Athletes in 1980s, 90s Not Outspoken, But Not Silent

    February 16, 2018

    Johnny Smith, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology (HSOC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, was quoted in the ABC News, February 16, article, “Black Athletes in 1980s, 90s Not Outspoken, But Not Silent.” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

    Excerpt:

    By the 1980s, America finally publicly embraced the black athlete, looking past skin color to see athleticism and skill, rewarding stars with multimillion-dollar athletic contracts, movie deals, lucrative shoe endorsements and mansions in all-white enclaves. Who didn’t want to be like Mike? But those fortunate black athletes like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods did not, for the most part, use their celebrity to speak out … “It seems to me that we need to rethink how we define ‘activism’ since black athletes certainly were involved in various social causes during that era. Anecdotally, I think about them donating to various scholarship funds and participating in ‘say no to drugs” campaigns,’” said Johnny Smith, who is the Julius C. “Bud” Shaw Professor of Sports, Society, and Technology at Georgia Tech. “That’s certainly a form of activism. However, on the whole, the most prominent black male athletes were not confrontational or outspoken.”

    For the full article, visit the ABC News website.

    Published in: ABC News

    Johnny Smith

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