Our guest poster this week is Dr. Ghazi Abuhakema, Department of Asian Studies. Dr. Abuhakema attended the Summer 2012 FTI.
In the summer of 2012, I was overseas on a business trip. While touring the city where I worked, I came across an interesting idea to research. I was interested in analyzing the language of written ads, including the use of images. To do that, I started collecting newspapers and magazines. However, that was not convenient, since I did not need the entire issues, and I was coming back to the United States to do the research and writing. But I also needed to document those ads on billboards. I did not have a camera or even a good phone handy to talk pictures. It came to my mind that I had my iPad. Therefore I started using it to take photos of all ads I come across on the streets. I also used it as a camera to take photos of printed ads in newspapers and magazines. That way, I did not have to worry about the weight and the inconvenience of transporting all those hard copies of newspapers of magazines. Based on the ads that I collected during my trip, I was able to write an article and publish it in a peer refereed journal. I am now involved in another article where the data comes from those images that I have collected and stored on my iPad.
