Arm Yourself! (With Knowledge)

WheelCipher — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:06:00 GMT

"Wisdom and knowledge, as well as virtue diffused generally among the body of the people, being necessary for the preservation of their rights and liberties, and as these depend on spreading the opportunities and advantages of education in the various parts of the country, and among the different orders of people, it shall be the duty of legislators and magistrates... to cherish the interest of literature and the sciences, and all seminaries of them." -- John Adams (Thoughts on Government, 1776)

Communication is one of the most important characteristics one can master at any point during their lifetime. It doesn’t matter what college degrees or work experience one has. If you cannot effectively communicate with the masses, people will look at you in a completely different light.

One thing I have noticed in my short time at Norwich University is that the people in my classes are real “thinkers” who are able to communicate and have spirited, respectful discussions about business and policy matters at a high level. This is perhaps the thing I enjoy the most about the program.

Being able to speak intelligently about things going on in the world is another characteristic that I look for when engaging in debate. Know who the movers and shakers are! Understand what they are doing. Get a firm grip on public policy, politics, science, technology and geo-intelligence. You will be better off for it.

I wanted to pass along a few links to some mailing lists that I think everyone should subscribe to if you are interested in communication, the spoken/written word, and some of the topics I mentioned above. I know they help me stay on top of some things in a time when I have my nose to the ground with work and school full-time.

http://www.stratfor.com/ - The leader in global consumer-grade geo-political intelligence. They have a “free” section as well as a mailing list.

http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/risks/ - The RISKS Digest or Forum on Risks to the Public in Computers and Related Systems is an online periodical published since 1985 by the Committee on Computers and Public Policy of the Association for Computing Machinery. The editor is Peter G. Neumann.

http://www.wordsmith.org/ - The music and magic of words. This is a daily electronic publication from Wordsmith.Org. AWAD includes a vocabulary word, its definition, pronunciation information with audio clip, etymology, usage example, quotation, and other interesting tidbits about words to subscribers every day.

http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l/ - Wikipedia article of the day.

http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/ - Google Public Policy. See how one of the most successful and influential businesses in the world is impacting public policy.

And finally … not so much a necessity, but more for us academics:

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php/ - A great cartoon that’s geared toward academic types. This is some of the best stuff I’ve seen in a while.

Add to:

My Norwich University Experience : Communication

Arm Yourself! (With Knowledge)