Fathom :: The Source for Online Learning

	» Media Index

Columbia University
Free Seminars (13)
Buster Keaton on Comedy and Making Movies From: Columbia University Actor and filmmaker Buster Keaton was one of the greatest comic figures of the silent film era. In 1958, Columbia University's Oral History Research Office conducted several lengthy interviews with Keaton about his life and career. These interviews, which can be listened to or read as part of this seminar, provide a rare glimpse of a vanished era from one of the masters of slapstick. more...
Capital Punishment in the U.S.: A Forum on Death-Penalty Issues From: Cambridge University Press, Columbia University and University of Chicago In this seminar, presented in the form of a lively debate, four leading experts discuss reasons why the US still retains the death penalty at a time when many other countries in the world have abandoned capital punishment. This forum introduces many of the socio-economic, racial and legal issues surrounding the use of capital punishment, and questions whether the death penalty actually protects the interests of American society at large or is biased against the poor and against minorities. more...
Early Contributions to Aviation From: Columbia University In this seminar, aviation expert Randy Johnson, explains why navigational instruments were necessary for the advancement of commercial aviation and describes the first successful blind flight, made by famed aviator James H. Doolittle just 11 years after airmail service began. Selected excerpts from interviews housed in the Aviation Project collection at Columbia University's Oral History Research Office offer first-hand accounts of this formative period for the aviation industry. more...
Edwin Howard Armstrong: FM Inventor From: Columbia University This seminar chronicles the life of Edwin Howard Armstrong, the little-known but extraordinary inventor, and the struggles he faced patenting FM broadcasting technology. Using interviews and excerpts from Lawrence Lessing's biography "Man of High Fidelity: Edwin Howard Armstrong," three of the leading authorities on Armstrong's life describe the long-term impacts of Armstrong's inventions and discuss how corporations and patent litigation have changed the role of the personal inventor in today's society. more...
End-of-Life Decisions From: Columbia University and University of Chicago In this seminar, based on a four-part forum held at Columbia University, experts on end-of-life issues discuss the ethics of deciding when to prolong the lives of patients. They debate the relative merits of living wills and whether a person can ever predict the scenario of death in sufficient detail to provide doctors with helpful guidelines. They weigh the appropriateness of administering medical procedures that provide comfort in patients' final hours but may hasten death, and discuss the economics of prolonging life and the increasing tendency to weigh one patient's potential to live against another's, as resources become more scarce. Presented as a lively debate, this seminar addresses many of the fundamental bioethical and legal questions that all doctors, patients and families will face when making informed end-of-life decisions. more...
George Washington and the Legacy of Character From: Columbia University George Washington is widely remembered as the leader who won independence for America and founded the country's government. But while his legacy influences the American public to this day, most of us know little about his character. What foundation does Washington's modern reputation have in his actual eighteenth century behavior? This seminar attempts to reveal the man behind the legend, delving into the record of the public and private life of America's first president. more...
Hungary in Transition From: Columbia University In this seminar, Columbia University professor of sociology David Stark examines Hungary's political and economic structures before and after the fall of Communism. He provides a case study of communist-sanctioned entrepreneurial factory practices that helped smooth the eventual transition to a market economy, and looks at the use of media and metaphor in the new publicly held elections in Hungary in 1989-90. more...
Memoirs of the Movies: Hollywood Personalities on the Coming of Sound From: Columbia University The "Popular Arts" and "Hollywood Film Industry" oral-history projects housed at Columbia University's Oral History Research Office consist of interviews with producers, directors, writers, actors and cinematographers. These interviews provide first-hand accounts and insights on the coming of sound, and other developments of the motion picture industry throughout the twentieth century. In this seminar, Joan Franklin, who worked with her husband to conduct a series of interviews that form the "Memoirs of the Movies" collection, recounts her fondest memories from the interviews they conducted. In addition, excerpts from interviews with Hollywood performers Buster Keaton and Lila Lee and with writer Anita Loos offer intimate accounts of the wide-ranging effects that "talkies" had on three Hollywood personalities during the 1930s. more...
Music from the Renaissance and Baroque From: Columbia University In this seminar, Susanne Dunlap, visiting assistant professor of music at Columbia University, provides a lively and thoughtful overview of some of the major themes, composers and works that characterized the shift from Renaissance music to that of the early Baroque. Dunlap introduces a variety of musical forms--including polyphony, the motet, oratorios and the madrigal--and explores the differences in instrumentation and verbal melodies in both periods. Dunlap also provides a guide to appropriate recordings and readings. Each recommendation sheds light on Renaissance and early Baroque music for novices unfamiliar with these important musical eras as well as for experts wishing to learn more. more...
No-Sweat Speaking From: Columbia University Learn how to take the pain out of public speaking in these clear and entertaining short video sessions by public-speaking coaches Jordan Friedman and Judith Steinhart of Alice!, Columbia University's Health Education Program. This free seminar provides public-speaking pointers on everything from calming yourself before you speak, to making eye contact, to how to work with your audience. more...
The Ambiguities of Freedom: Public Policy and American Youth From: Columbia University Using excerpts from "The Ambiguities of Freedom" conference held at Columbia University, this seminar examines several of the obstacles facing US children under the current education and welfare systems. Four experts analyze the negative effects that zero-tolerance policies, workfare and corporate culture have had on a new generation of Americans, while offering suggestions for how to improve public policies that are targeted toward youth issues. Throughout this seminar, the experts focus on the relationship between abstract notions of freedom and the everyday lives of millions of children, and explore how governmental policies can create new opportunities for youth. more...
The Biology of Venomous Animals From: Columbia University Animals have evolved numerous ways to cope with feeding and defense, and one of these ways is using poisons and venoms. But how do poisons and venoms work on the chemical level, and why don't venomous or poisonous creatures poison themselves? These questions are answered by Zoltan Takacs, a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University, who gives a general introduction about venomous and poisonous animals in this seminar. He explains what groups of animals are venomous, why they are venomous and how that venom works. more...
Women's Health: Not for Women Only From: Columbia University Until recently, medical understanding of women's health stemmed largely from research on men--their anatomy, disease progressions and drug interactions. But women are not "little men." Differences between men and women extend to every system in the body, not just reproductive organs. In this seminar, Marianne J. Legato, M.D., describes how gender-specific medicine can improve medical care for both men and women. more...