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The program is offering:

A Certificate in Strategic Communication (4 courses)

It addresses topics that range from interpersonal communication skills, public speaking, public relations, campaigning, image production, personal and corporate branding, content in addition to advertising and marketing techniques.

A Certificate in Journalism (4 courses)

It addresses a variety of areas in multimedia journalism including digital media law, ethics of reporting, digital storytelling, visual media production, investigative journalism, mobile reporting and cyber activism.

Together, both certificates amount to a “Diploma in Journalism and Strategic Communication” from AUB.

This program is offered under AUB’s “Regional External Programs (REP) / Continuing Education Center (CEC).” The courses will be lead by academics, veteran media practitioners, and experts in corporate communication; they will be giving dynamic and participatory lectures as well as hands-on practical exercises.

Who can benefit from the program:

• Undergraduate students interested in complementing their studies with a Journalism and Communication Diploma from AUB’s CEC.
• Undergraduate students interested in complementing their studies with a Journalism and Communication Diploma from AUB’s CEC.
• Media practitioners and junior journalists working for TV, radio, print, and online outlets.
• Communication officers working for governmental organizations, local NGOs or international NGOs aiming to expand their knowledge on modern journalistic and communication techniques.
• Communication officers and employees working in banking, advertising and other corporate sectors interested in attaining a certificate in Strategic Communication.

For information on the JCTP’s diploma and registration click here
or send an inquiry to the following email

I’m proud to be part of this program, I’m in charge of the Corporate Identity and Branding course, the upcoming course kicks off mid-January.

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This dog is perfect in all aspects; he comes from a line of champions. His dad, grandpa, and his kids are champions, he is just the most beautiful dog you can see, I’ve been around German Shepherds all my life, but Risco is just on a different level.

Risco Vom Suentelstein is ranked top dog in the world, and best male dog in the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. The ranking comes based on genetics and purity of the breed, beauty, body composition, measurements, hip dimension, personality, behavior, emotional intelligence, obedience, awards, and other criteria. Risco is a particular dog, and he is living in Lebanon now.

When my friend Siso told me about Risco a couple of years ago, we knew it was going to be extremely hard to bring such a dog to Lebanon. These pure breeds are well protected in Europe and are not sold commercially.

There’s a qualification process for the future owner to make sure that the dog is living in a well deserving home and can bond with his potential owner. It was a long process as it took many months to get Risco here.

Siso is a dog fanatic himself; I’ve always known him with a German Shepherd around. Today, along with Risco, Siso has another German Shepherd called Art and living under the same roof, we can easily claim that Art is a top dog in the country, but unfortunately, Risco’s stardom overshadowed him. We shouldn’t also forget the little white Chihuahua Toot; he is the leader of the pack

Risco is 5 and a half years old, he weighs 40 kgs and has been winning awards every year for the past three years. There are prestigious competitions in Germany and Holland every year, where around 300 dogs compete for the title of excellent dog or (VA) dog, and every year, around 10 to 12 dogs are voted VA dogs out of the participants.

In 2015 Risco was VA 12
In 2016 he was VA 6
In 2017 Risco came VA 1

This latest first place achievement was in Holland a few months ago during the 100 years anniversary siegershow competition.

It’s incredible to see how well this dog is trained. I have visited Siso along with my two kids Mary-Jo and Anthony; I was blown away by his outstanding behavior, confidence, and emotional intelligence.

At the house, with the kids, he was like a little puppy playing with them, but on the training field, he was as ferocious as a police or guard dog. Risco is being trained by Siso and Paul Dargham a professional dog trainer who helped Risco win his last title.

I believe our humanity is so much improved when we have animals around us; our kids become compassionate human beings when they learn to take care of their furry companions.

The post Meet Risco: Top Ranked Dog in the World, Best in the Middle East, North Africa & Eastern Europe appeared first on Techie Dad - Creative Technologist.

However, there are certain unique things that you experience with your little girl, and only dads with girls can understand and relate to:

1- Pink, Pink, Pink

A computer displays about 16.8 million colors; a little girl sees only one, PINK. For the first seven years of her childhood, everything around you is pink. Pink here, pink there, pink everywhere. Her room, furniture, dolls, bags, dresses, all pink. You will realize that there are more shades of pink that you can ever imagine.

2- Unicorns Are Real

Yes, unicorns are real, don’t you dare argue against that. They are these gorgeous white flying horses with rainbow-colored horns. Unicorns possess amazing magical powers, but no one really knows what they can do, just accept it and move on.

3- Boys Are The Enemy

As of the age of 9, you will start hating all the boys in her class equally. As a dad, you will start practicing the 101 ways to show off your alpha male genes in every event, birthday, and outing.

4- Girls Have Their Lingo

You need a specialized linguist to decipher the conversation of your little girl with her girlfriends. They talk in a weird pitch, extremely fast, use abbreviations to every word, and jump from one random topic to another every 15 seconds.

5- Mom is Always Right

No matter what you do, she will always side with her mom. You could spend the whole weekend with her doing all the things she loves, but whenever there is a moment of truth, Mom is always right!

6- She Will Put Makeup On Your Face

We’ve all been victims of makeup testing. As a girl, she needed a model to practice her makeup skills on and what better model to have other than her bearded dad.

7- Dads Can’t Dance

God knows you try to be a good dance partner, but your beer belly gets in the way. Don’t worry she will always tell you that you were great and you don’t need a diet.

8- Fashionista Dad

She insists on having your expert opinion in fashion but always picks the other option. Dads always tend to choose the most conservative outfit. Not cool.

9- Bye Bye Pink Floyd, Welcome Ariana Grande

Say goodbye to your car playlist, the one that you spent a full weekend to put together. In their lingo, its called “old” and “boring” music. Your only way out of the walk of shame is to sing along Ariana Grande’s greatest hits.

10- You’re The King of The World

You haven’t experienced true love in your life until you feel your little girl’s love for you. Every look, hug, kiss or word she says to you is an out of this world experience. If you’re feeling down, sick, tired or your battery is dead, don’t worry all will disappear with a hug. In under 10 seconds, she will fill you up with enough positive energy to move a mountain.

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BBC World Questions allows the public to question their politicians, leaders and opinion formers directly face to face. The debates are led entirely by questions from the audience who are able to have their points heard around the world.

A panel of senior politicians and thinkers will join the BBC’s Jonny Dymond at the Issam Fares Lecture Hall (AUB) at 18.00 to debate questions from a public audience on Lebanon’s social, political and international future. No one on the panel knows what will be asked until the night itself.

Be part of the audience and have your say in a debate that will be heard around the world. Your question may be one of 10 selected for the members of the panel to answer. Register now for free to join the debate when BBC World Questions comes to Lebanon!

BBC World Questions is an English language event, staged in partnership with the British Council and will be recorded for radio broadcast worldwide.

If you want to join the debate, you can register here for free.

All the details can be found on the British Council website.

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The ad featured an old lady performing impossibly dangerous stunts in order to save someone’s life.

For those who don’t understand French, the text says:
Not everyone can do this (on the old lady’s stunts)
But everyone can do this (on the donation box)

A small donation to the Red Cross, can make a big difference and help save lives.

The post Powerful Ad By The French Red Cross (Croix-Rouge Française) appeared first on Techie Dad - Creative Technologist.

1987 Original Ad

2009 Second Version

2016 Version

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Adults with disabilities ask that you say “disability” and not “special needs”. In the words of Lawrence Carter-Long:

A need isn’t special if other people get to take the same thing for granted.

I came across this brilliant campaign; it was created by Publicis New York for CoorDown to raise awareness for World Down Syndrom Day – March 21. It is well crafted.

The campaign visualizes in a funny way what special needs could really look like; ordering a dinosaur egg for breakfast, wearing a giant armored suit, having celebrity wake-up calls, or even being massaged by a cat.

The post Not Special Needs: A Funny Yet Serious Ad About Down Syndrome appeared first on Techie Dad - Creative Technologist.

It doesn’t matter if we start on mobile and complete the action on a bigger screen. The decision to be interested in a topic or not has already been taken on that smaller mobile screen.

The Turning Point:

A few months ago, we witnessed a turning point in the worldwide internet usage. StatCounter reported that for the first time, mobile internet usage exceeded desktop and accounted for 51.3% compared to 48.7% for desktop.

As per Google, more people search on their mobile devices today than on their desktop computers, spending an average of more than 3 hours per day on their smartphones. Google also revealed that 70% of mobile travelers had done travel research on their smartphones and that time in front of the TV has declined in favor of mobile, with 18–49-year-olds‘ time on YouTube jumping 44%.

Today, mobile is more mainstream than ever, and businesses are depending on this platform to boost their revenues. An App Annie report showed that consumer spending had reached $52 billion on mobile app stores and a staggering $77 billion in gross on mobile in-app advertising.

How Does That Affect The User Experience?

Most of the online traffic, especially informative, social and entertainment content platforms like news and blogs, have shifted from direct homepage visits to referrals from social media platforms.

People’s first entry is now via mobile; they are mainly on a social media platform, they see something interesting, they click and get redirected to an internal page on that website while still on their mobile device. The challenge from that moment on is to get the user to stay for the longest time, browse more, subscribe and keep on coming back.

Q: Where Do We Start When Planning, Designing And Building an Online Platform?
A: Mobile First.

When we start mapping the journey and the user experience of any online platform, we need to take into account all the many screens at hand. All the different laptop resolutions, tablets, phablets, and smartphones. So many devices to think about and adjust accordingly. We shouldn’t forget to adapt to different technologies, like having to create a mobile app or a TV app when needed.

UX/Designers have always started building the desktop website first. it always looks better; they have plenty of digital real estate to work with, the design can be visually differentiated from other sites as they can focus on design details, large visuals, interactive features, etc.

Today, this has changed. The homepage is no longer the single most important element. Of course, it still is crucial, and it needs to look great but what is more important is the user experience, our primary focus is to make sure that the user gets the best out their short visit to the platform.

To guarantee a better online presence, we need to make sure to take the below steps into consideration:

The 3 U(s)

User Journey:

It is crucial to define the user journey first, map out all the touch points that a user goes through to interact with your product. Think about situations, locations, time of engagement and platforms.

User Experience:

The User Experience (UX) is the single most important element in the whole process. The UX is the blueprint for everything to follow: Business, content, design and technology.

The UX designer needs to understand technology, coding and design trends. A good UX document marries the business opportunities with the design and technical needs while making sure that the user’s journey is kept simple and least complicated.

The User Interface:

The User Interface (UI) or the design is the beautification process of the UX; every project needs to start with UX first before moving into UI. The technical and business requirements that the UX takes into account are not always known to the designer. If the UX document is clear and comprehensive, then the designers can do what they do best, draw a visually stunning design instead of trying to guess their way into the product.

Before Starting a Project Ask Yourself The Following:
What are my business objectives? How do I measure success?
What are the most important elements to showcase?
Who are my audiences and where do I find them?
Is the experience optimized across all devices and platforms?
Do I need all the devices and platforms?
Can my users easily navigate through the platform if their first entry was an internal page?

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The Virgin Group founder invited former President Barack Obama to an aquatic challenge. The objective was to see if Obama can learn to kitesurf before Branson learned to foilboard? The winner is the one who could stay up the longest.

Obama won the challenge, but Branson won the internet.

Regarding the meeting at the White House: pic.twitter.com/8b1XH4oW6h

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 3, 2017

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