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Librarians: Michael Jackson King of Academic Literature

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Newswise — No doubt Michael Jackson changed music and pop culture. But the way college professors teach chemistry? What about the fields of engineering and psychology?
A new bibliographic guide to academic literature compiled by two Texas Tech University librarians shows that Michael Jackson’s influence stretched beyond pop culture into the often dusty halls of academia.
Their list of scholarly papers and peer-reviewed articles, culled from more than 100 databases for a special issue of The Journal of Pan African Studies, found the King of Pop referenced in psychology, medical, chemistry, mass communications and even engineering journals.
Yet “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’: MJ in the Scholarly Literature: A Selected Bibliographic Guide” merely scratched the surface of scholarly content related to Jackson, noted Texas Tech Associate Librarians Susan Hidalgo and Rob Weiner. They called the breadth of Jackson’s influence truly astounding.
“I was surprised by a lot of what I read – I just thought I knew Michael Jackson,” said Hidalgo, also head of access services for the Texas Tech University Library in Lubbock, Texas.
Hidalgo and Weiner said they avoided works they deemed sensationalist, saying such literature would defeat the purpose of honest investigation.
Instead, they focused on peer-reviewed or scholarly works with unique Jackson content that might shed light on the way people view larger-than-life celebrities – including one of the most sensational and contentious figures ever to grace the cover of a tabloid.
For instance, researchers used Jackson to critique the media’s handling of criminal cases. A 911 call made by Jackson prompted an article in Fire Engineering journal, while a British Medical Journal piece written after Jackson’s death discussed ethical issues that arise when a patient is more powerful than the attending physician.
One chemistry professor argued that reframing popular songs such as “Billie Jean” could help students understand difficult chemistry concepts.
“I knew that Jackson permeated pop culture, but academics can be kind of snooty about what they choose to study,” Weiner said. “The fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson’s influence.”
To read a copy of the article, visit http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol3no7/3.7MJ-Wanna-3.pdf.


http://www.newswise.com/articles/librarians-michael-jackson-king-of-academic-literature
 
Newswise — No doubt Michael Jackson changed music and pop culture. But the way college professors teach chemistry? What about the fields of engineering and psychology?
A new bibliographic guide to academic literature compiled by two Texas Tech University librarians shows that Michael Jackson’s influence stretched beyond pop culture into the often dusty halls of academia.
Their list of scholarly papers and peer-reviewed articles, culled from more than 100 databases for a special issue of The Journal of Pan African Studies, found the King of Pop referenced in psychology, medical, chemistry, mass communications and even engineering journals.
Yet “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’: MJ in the Scholarly Literature: A Selected Bibliographic Guide” merely scratched the surface of scholarly content related to Jackson, noted Texas Tech Associate Librarians Susan Hidalgo and Rob Weiner. They called the breadth of Jackson’s influence truly astounding.
“I was surprised by a lot of what I read – I just thought I knew Michael Jackson,” said Hidalgo, also head of access services for the Texas Tech University Library in Lubbock, Texas.
Hidalgo and Weiner said they avoided works they deemed sensationalist, saying such literature would defeat the purpose of honest investigation.
Instead, they focused on peer-reviewed or scholarly works with unique Jackson content that might shed light on the way people view larger-than-life celebrities – including one of the most sensational and contentious figures ever to grace the cover of a tabloid.
For instance, researchers used Jackson to critique the media’s handling of criminal cases. A 911 call made by Jackson prompted an article in Fire Engineering journal, while a British Medical Journal piece written after Jackson’s death discussed ethical issues that arise when a patient is more powerful than the attending physician.
One chemistry professor argued that reframing popular songs such as “Billie Jean” could help students understand difficult chemistry concepts.
“I knew that Jackson permeated pop culture, but academics can be kind of snooty about what they choose to study,” Weiner said. “The fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson’s influence.”
To read a copy of the article, visit http://www.jpanafrican.com/docs/vol3...MJ-Wanna-3.pdf.
 
Oh man this article seems really promising...Hope the link works soon.
 
So awesome! I'm writing 3 research papers for grad school right now and wanted to include MJ in them somehow, even as part of the thesis, but rejected the idea because I realized I was being obsessive. Maybe I should have gone with it! :lol:
 
The guide shows Jackson popping up in psychology, medical, chemistry, mass communications and even engineering journals.

Here was the goal of their research:

To say that researchers can find tons of material on Michael Jackson would be an understatement. Our original goal was to provide scholars with a guide to printed books, articles, websites and other online sources that researchers could use as legitimate content. We wanted to avoid sensationalist works like David Perel's Freak: Inside the Twisted World of Michael Jackson or National Enquirer type publications.
Click to expand...
and here was the criteria:

1) Was the article in a peer-reviewed journal?

2) If not, would it still be of interest to scholars and researchers?

3) Did the article have substantial Jackson content?

4) Is the Jackson content unique?

5) Does the article tell us something about the way we see popular icons including Jackson?

And this is just a start for the authors admit that they merely scratched the surface of scholarly content related to Jackson.

The breadth of Jackson's influence, beyond his just being a pop icon, is truly astounding. This bibliographic guide to the MJ in the scholarly literature just scratches the surface. We do, however, give scholars a place to start exploring the world of the "King of Pop" in academic literature. If nothing else, it illustrates just how pervasive Jackson's impact is.
Click to expand...

http://blog.seattlepi.com/bookpatrol/archives/206607.asp?from=blog_last3
 
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The answer sheet - Michael Jackson's unexpected place in academia

Hope this hasn't already been posted.
It's from a The Washington Post.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/research/michael-jacksons-unexpected-pl.html

Michael Jackson’s unexpected place in academia
It seems that there are no limits to the influence the late Michael Jackson had on our world.

Not only did he dominate pop music for years, but, according to a new bibliographic guide to academic literature, he has been referenced in journals of law, psychology, medicine, chemistry, mass communications and even engineering.

The guide was compiled by two Texas Tech University associate librarians, Susan Hidalgo and Rob Weiner, who looked through more than 100 databases for scholarly papers and peer-reviewed articles for a special issue of The Journal of Pan African Studies.

It’s called “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’: MJ in the Scholarly Literature: A Selected Bibliographic Guide.”

“I was surprised by a lot of what I read. I just thought I knew Michael Jackson,” said Hidalgo, also head of access services for the Texas Tech University Library in Lubbock.

The librarians focused on peer-reviewed or scholarly works with unique Jackson content that might shed light on the way people view larger-than-life celebrities.

In one instance, researchers used Jackson to critique the media’s handling of criminal cases. A 911 call made by Jackson prompted an article in Fire Engineering journal. A British Medical Journal piece written after Jackson’s death last year discussed ethical issues that arise when a patient is more powerful than the attending physician.

One article about the privacy of jury members uses Jackson’s child molestation case to discuss the subject. And one chemistry professor argued that reframing popular songs such as “Billie Jean” could help students understand difficult chemistry concepts.

“The fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson’s influence,” Weiner said.

For better or for worse."

Don't know about the last "For better or for worse":mat::mat:

Other than that it's pretty amazing how far-reaching Michael's influence was in so many areas.:)
 
Re: The answer sheet - Michael Jackson's unexpected place in academia

Michael Jackson is the most famous person ever, this doesn't surprise me.

Thanx for posting x
 
Michael Jackson Influenced Academic Literature Too

Washington, DC: Michael Jackson's influence stretched beyond pop culture - the King of Pop changed how professors taught chemistry, engineering and psychology in classes.

A new bibliographic guide to academic literature compiled by two Texas Tech University librarians shows that found Jackson referenced in psychology, medical, chemistry, mass communications and even engineering journals.

The researchers compiled a list of scholarly papers and peer-reviewed articles, culled from more than 100 databases.

Yet 'Wanna Be Startin' Somethin': MJ in the Scholarly Literature: A Selected Bibliographic Guide' merely scratched the surface of scholarly content related to Jackson, noted Texas Tech Associate Librarians Susan Hidalgo and Rob Weiner.

They called the breadth of Jackson's influence truly astounding.

"I was surprised by a lot of what I read - I just thought I knew Michael Jackson," said Hidalgo.

The researchers said that they avoided works they deemed sensationalist, saying such literature would defeat the purpose of honest investigation.

Instead, they focused on peer-reviewed or scholarly works with unique Jackson content that might shed light on the way people view larger-than-life celebrities - including one of the most sensational and contentious figures ever to grace the cover of a tabloid.

For example, researchers used Jackson to critique the media's handling of criminal cases.

A 911 call made by Jackson prompted an article in Fire Engineering journal, while a British Medical Journal piece written after Jackson's death discussed ethical issues that arise when a patient is more powerful than the attending physician.

One chemistry professor argued that reframing popular songs such as 'Billie Jean' could help students understand difficult chemistry concepts.

"I knew that Jackson permeated pop culture, but academics can be kind of snooty about what they choose to study. The fact that someone would take a Michael Jackson song and co-opt it as a means to convey chemistry concepts just shows the pervasiveness of Jackson's influence," said Weiner.

The study has been published in a special issue of The Journal of Pan African Studies.
Click to expand...
http://www.dnaindia.com/entertainme...on-influenced-academic-literature-too_1386596
 
Re: Michael Jackson Influenced Academic Literature Too

I'm really that surprised. Michael was huge in all aspects of life. I remember when I was going to college in the 80's and my marketing and my finance professors would discuss Michael as a means for us to understand the subject matter.

Also, a few years back there were courses offered at a major university about Michael Jackson.

He is/was and will always be otherworldly!
 
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