UO E-clips, Nov. 19

University of Oregon readies for Great American Smokeout (Trading Markets): For one day this year, smokers will try to kick the habit and go 24 hours without touching any tobacco, which includes cigarettes, chewing tobacco, snuff or cigars. Thursday is the Great American Smokeout, a day sponsored by the American Cancer Association, an opportunity to raise awareness about smoking and encourage smokers to try to stop for a day. If people stop for a day they are more likely to quit for good, according to the ACA. .... On the University of Oregon campus, students are working to spread awareness about smoking. According to Paula Staight, director of health promotion at the University Health Center, student health leaders are celebrating the Smokeout for a week. The activities started on Friday, Nov. 14, with a cigarette butt pick-up.

Journalism's battle for relevance in an age of too much information (Media Channel): In 2007, as part of the third round of strategic planning for its digital transformation, the Associated Press decided to do something a little different. It hired a research company called Context to conduct an in-depth study of young-adult news consumption around the world. Jim Kennedy, the AP's director of strategic planning, initially agreed to the project because he thought it would make for a "fun and entertaining" presentation at the annual meeting. It turned out to be more than that; the AP believed that the results held fundamental implications for the role of the news media in the digital age....Michael Posner, a researcher who has dedicated his career to studying attention and a professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Oregon, explains attention as a system of three networks—alerting, orienting, and executive.

Tuition decrease? (Sierra Sun): Students who don't want to go to college in the state where they live, but are scared off from attending an out-of-state university because of the whopping costs should be aware: There is another option. The Western Undergraduate Exchange, or WUE, provides reduced out-of-state tuition to students who live in 14 Western states, charging them 150 percent of in-state tuition, which is nearly always cheaper than a school's regular out-of-state rate. ... Some of the best tuition deals to be found in the WUE program are for the University of Oregon ($10,144 worth of savings over regular out-of-state tuition) and Colorado State University ($12,805).