In Oct. 23-29 Issue
By Greg Wells
Times Journal Managing Editor

COLUMBIA - Addiction, politics and other topics are fodder for discussion by faculty at Lindsey Wilson, but those conversations have spread across the world, through the Internet

The first five episodes of Lindsey Wilson Conversations, a new Internet show produced by Lindsey Wilson College are available on the popular site YouTube.

"We hope people will enjoy this weekly program," said Travis Smith of the Lindsey Wilson Public Relations Office, who produces Conversations. "Our goal is to offer a wide variety of topics that viewers will find relevant to current events. Lindsey Wilson has a very talented faculty, and this program is a great way to showcase them."

Each episode - which is about eight minutes long - features a member of the Lindsey Wilson faculty talking about their area of expertise or a current topic related to their area of expertise.

The project has put the local college ahead of the curve, said Public Relations Director Duane Bonnifer.

He said a major university journal suggested that universities share their expertise over the internet using interactive social systems and interactive multi-media approaches.

Bonnifer said that came out about a month after they had begun the project and were already putting their pieces up on YouTube.

A new episode of Conversations is set to be posted by 5 p.m. each Wednesday during the school year, with the next episode due Oct. 22.

He said that his staff is working with him on the bulk of the projects, but he is hoping some students will want to gain video production experience by participating.

He said two of the professors profiled already were volunteers who stepped forward and he is anticipating similar interest among the student body.

Future topics include "body image" and the Swiss particle accelerator.

"I'm surprised more universities aren't taking advantage of this," Bonnifer said. "- U.K. could put up some of the many videos they have so farmers could just look them up easily."

Lindsey Wilson Conversations can be viewed on the Lindsey Wilson YouTube channel or on the video link on the college's Web site. The address of the Lindsey Wilson Youtube channel is:

www.youtube.com/LWCpublicrelations.

The program is also available to iPhone users. And Bonnifer said they have plans to expand to podcasting and even open university programs that would allow non-students to gain general knowledge in subjects through prepared lectures.