Communication and Technology
Communication Studies 454
Department of Communication Studies
College of Arts, Media, and Communication
California State University, Northridge

Links to online research resources

A Guide to Virtual Libraries  was created by Andreea Buhoi for the RTFM project. Check it out.
 
Thanks to Professor Ben Attias, who put together the links on the right and originally authored this page, here are a selection of useful resources for students in Communication and Technology.  For your convenience (or perhaps your confusion), these links appear on the sidebar on the right side of each web page so that they can easily be accessed.  Clicking one of the links to the right will open the link in a new browser (Windows users might have to resize their browsers). This page will help you remember what the many abbreviations mean. For brevity's sake, I have only included resources that would be frequently useful rather than choosing the tempting option of including every possible page that has anything to do with the field. Want to add your own links?  Use the class newsgroup to post your own links.  Happy web-surfing!
 
Reference & Research Tools:

 Those of you using the Web for research may find the following links useful. Each one takes you to search engines that will greatly aid the process of research. Enjoy, but remember, internet searching is addictive, and there is no substitute for a visit to a physical library now and again!

  • webopedia

  • A Dictionary/Encyclopedia of Internet Terminology
     
  • Jargon

  • A searchable "jargon file," called the New Hacker's Dictionary -- a great source of information about acronyms and other jargon. 
     
  • Net History

  • An internet history timeline that was put together by the professor and students in a previous version of this course.
     
  • comabstracts 

  • Communication Abstracts from the Communication Institute for Online Scholarship. Unfortunately you can't actually view the abstracts without paying through the nose, but you can at least get citations here which can be useful.
     
  • webposter

  • A Rhetorical scholarship database of article titles; a useful way to find article citations.
     
  • nexis

  • A frontend to lexis-nexis (for CSUN students) that makes it a lot easier to search for articles. You'll need to go through the proxy server if you are browsing from off campus; instructions are here.
     
  • nofuncharlie search

  • A bunch of search engines collected in one place. Easy to use if you know what the search engines are for. The link is to the technology search page, but there are many others available from there, including basic web searching. Great way to search the web faster!
     
  • lookitup

  • Another incredible meta-search tool. A ton of search engines with an academic bent. Not as easy to use as nofuncharlie though.
     
  • reference desk

  • A humungous reference library with links to just about everything else.
     
  • encarta

  • An online encyclopedia owned by Microsoft.
     
  • Encyclopedia Mythica

  • Search for information about mythology, folklore, and legends.
     
  • Latin-English Dictionary

  • You'd be surprised how often this will come in handy. 
     
  • WWWebster's Dictionary:

  • An online version of the Merriam-Webster dictionary. 
Technology News:

Frequently updated, the following links should help you figure out what's going on in the world of communication and technology.

  • Wired

  • Wired News - news from the technology front.
     
  • Online Journalism Review

  • Covering important issues for journalists in the online world
     
  • slashdot

  • Slashdot: "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters." A great source of technology news, with a very popular online discussion board.
     
  • The Internet Law Journal:

  • Covering legal issues and developments on the Internet.
     
  • NewsBytes

  • Another source of information about technology; updated daily. 
     
  • HackerNews

  • Online news source focusing on computer hacking and security. 
     
  • D-Music

  • News source focusing on MP3 and other Internet Music technologies.
     
  • Salon

  • Salon.com: Great daily online newspaper; the link is to their technology coverage.
     
  • APB

  • APBNews is a great daily source of information about criminal justice issues; the link is to their internet crime section.
Scholarly Resources:

 These resources include complete scholarly essays and other useful documents. 

  • Tec Soc (Center for the Study of Technology and Society)

  • An excellent source of news and information about the relationship between technology and society.
     
  • Media and Communication

  • Daniel Chandler has an excellent collection of resources with a technology bent available here.
     
  • english server

  • The English Server from Carnegie Mellon University is a wonderful resource; over 27,000 texts online and fully available to students. Online journals and scholarly essays on any number of topics. Fully searchable, so get down!
     
  • culturalstudies.net

  • Cultural Studies Central: A promising cultural studies site with links to lots of information.
     
  • popcultures.com

  • Another Cultural Studies Information clearinghouse.
Activism

 These resources all have an activist bent; they are frequently updated with news and information about liberty and rights in the online world.

  • EFF: Electronic Frontier Foundation

  • Legal activist organization with a strong leaning toward the protection of privacy and free speech on the Internet. 
     
  • DFC: The Digital Future Coaltion

  • Consumer organization for the digital world dealing primarily with intellectual property issues.
     
  • FEN: The Free Expression Network

  • Focusing on free expression in cyberspace
     
  • GILC: Global Internet Liberty Campaign

  • Another advocacy group on the internet, with a global perspective.
     
  • EPIC: Electronic Privacy Information Center

  • Organization devoted to the privacy of online information. 
Journals:

Some peer-reviewed scholarly journals in the field are available online. 

  • m/c

  • M/C: A journal of media and culture.
     
  • cac

  • Computers and Composition
     
  • kairos

  • A journal for teachers of writing in webbed environments
     
  • cmc

  • Computer Mediated Communication Journal
     
  • acjournal

  • American Communication Journal
     
  • cjc

  • Canadian Journal of Communication
Media:

 Some resources for students interested in technology and media studies.

  • who owns what

  • Columbia Journalism Review guide to who owns what media outlets. An excellent resource to trace the ownership of any large media company.
     
  • FAIR

  • Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting: A liberal "press watchdog" organization.
     
  • e & p

  • Editor and Publisher: Journalist trade magazine.
     
  • CJR

  • Columbia Journalism Review: Journalism magazine with strong track record for press freedom.
     
  • ad age

  • Advertising Age: Advertising Industry trade magazine.
CSUN
  • library

  • CSUN Library Research Tools. Some excellent full-text databases are at your fingertips.
     
  • itr

  • Instructional Technology Resources
     
  • computing

  • Student Computing Resources at CSUN. 
     
  • a & r

  • Admissions & Records
     
  • calendar

  • The current semester calendar for CSUN.
     
  • student forms

  • Lots of .pdf forms - no more waiting in line for the wrong form; you can now download it directly!

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Last Update: January 20, 2002
Please Send Comments, Suggestions, etc. to christie.logan@csun.edu
This document resides at http://www.csun.edu/~vcspc00g/454/links.html