Greenlee School director receives national ethics research award

Michael Bugeja, professor and director of the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication at Iowa State University, has been awarded the 2005 Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award.

The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (CCCSIR) announced the award Thursday. The Christians Award will be presented to Bugeja in the Media Ethics Division Business Meeting, during the Annual Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), Aug. 10-13, in San Antonio, Texas.

The award recognizes Bugeja's contribution to journalism and communication of his book, Interpersonal Divide: The Search for Community in a Technological Age. In the book, published in 2005 by Oxford University Press, Bugeja says that modern technology has driven civilization away from real communities, replaced by virtual ones, including rampant use of cell phones, iPods, Internet, email, and other high-tech gadgets. This, he writes, occupies us at home and at work, blurring those boundaries.

Bugeja argues that overuse of electronic technologies and over-consumption of media have created an "interpersonal divide" - a void that develops between people when they spend too much time in virtual rather than in real communities.

"The book looks at all aspects of technology and media that have an impact on community," Bugeja says. "There is a growing inability of people to use face-to-face communication to solve problems. I believe the more we can value each other face-to-face the better we can develop a sense of community."

The Review Committee that chose the winner of the Christians Award included Lee Wilkins (University of Missouri), Robert Fortner (Calvin College), Deni Elliott (University of Montana), and Ronald Arnett (Duquesne University).

Christians Award is an annual competition established by the Couch Center to recognize outstanding ethics research that interpret or address important theoretical issues in the areas of ethics, mass communication theory, and the relationship between media and technology and culture, interpret and apply concepts employed in Christians' work in new and insightful ways. Submissions are evaluated based on the quality of mastery of Christians approaches and concepts; originality; organization; presentation; and advancement of knowledge.