Common Sense Media (CSM) is a San Francisco based non-profit that advocates for children and families, and studies the effects that media and technology have on young users.^[2][3]

Founded by Jim Steyer in 2003, Common Sense Media reviews books, movies, TV shows, video games, apps, music, and websites and rates them in terms of age-appropriate educational content, violence, sex, and profanity, and more to help parents make informed media choices for their kids.

Donations from foundations and individuals and fees from media partners finance Common Sense Media. Today, the organization distributes its content to more than 100 million US homes via partnerships with a variety of traditional and online media companies. Common Sense Media is considered the nation’s largest membership organization dedicated to improving kids’ media lives.^[2]

Early history[link]

After founding JP Kids, a successful educational media company for children, and Children Now, a national child advocacy and media group, Jim Steyer founded Common Sense Media in 2003. In an interview with the New York Times, Steyer said he intended to “create a huge constituency for parents and kids in the same way that Mothers Against Drunk Driving or the AARP has done. The group received $500,000 in seed money from a group of donors including Charles Schwab, George Roberts, and James Coulter.^[2]

To assess parents’ concern about their children’s media habits, Common Sense Media commissioned a poll, which found that “64 percent [of parents with children 2-17] believed that media products in general were inappropriate for their families. It said that 81 percent expressed concern that the media in general were encouraging violent or antisocial behavior in children.” The polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, said that “only one out of five interviewed ‘fully trusted'’ the separate industry-controlled ratings systems for music, movies, video games and television.”^[2]

Media reviews[link]

Common Sense Media reviews thousands of movies, TV shows, music, video games, apps, web sites and books. Based on developmental criteria from some of the nation’s leading authorities, the reviews provide guidance regarding each title’s age appropriateness, as well as a “content grid” that rates particular aspects of the title including educational value, violence, sex, positive messages and role models, and more. For each title, Common Sense Media indicates the age for which a title is either appropriate or most relevant and assigns an ON (age appropriate), PAUSE (somewhat edgy for the age), or OFF (not age appropriate) rating. An overall five-star quality rating is also included, as are discussion questions to help families talk about the media they consume. Common Sense Media's system was the first of its kind to give families the tools they needed to assess whether a given media title was right for their kids, or to manage a decision that had already been made.^[4]

Common Sense Media partners with a number of media companies that distribute the organization’s free content to more than 100 million homes in the United States. According to Common Sense Media’s website, the organization has content distribution contracts with Road Runner, TiVo, Yahoo!, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, DIRECTV, NBC Universal, Netflix, Best Buy, Google, Yahoo!, AOL/Huffington Post, Fandango, Trend Micro, Verizon Foundation, Nickelodeon, and more.^[5] The organization’s current rating system differs from the system used by the Motion Picture Association of America and the Entertainment Software Rating Board.[10] It has received positive support from parents, and it has received support from President Barack Obama, who stated that its rating system favored "sanity, not censorship."^[6][7]

Education[link]

In 2009, CSM partnered with Harvard University and the organization Global Kids to organize the first ever three-way communication with parents, teenagers, and educators about issues faced in the online world.^[6]

Common Sense has 2 free education programs for schools and other organizations to use with students and parents. The goal of these resources is to help young people learn how to think critically, behave safely, and participate responsibly in today's ever-changing digital media world. More than 23,000 schools and 32,000 educators around the world are using these resources.^[8]

The first product is a Parent Media and Technology Education Program that was launched in late 2008. The program includes a comprehensive library of resources, like tip sheets, workshop slides and script, videos, and discussion guides that educators can use to engage and educate parents about technology issues ranging from media violence and commercialism to cyberbullying and cellphone etiquette.

The second product, launched in 2009, is a K-12 Digital Literacy and Citizenship Curriculum consisting of more than 70 lesson plans, student handouts, videos and interactive components that span three topic areas: Safety and Security, Digital Citizenship, and Research and Information Literacy.  The curriculum was informed by research done by Howard Gardner's GoodPlay Project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

The resources were developed with support from many foundations, including the MacArthur and Hewlett Foundations, which enables Common Sense to offer these products to educators for free.

CSM has also teamed with MTV's "A Thin Line" campaign, the Family Violence Prevention Fund, and Yahoo! Safely to conduct a series of town hall meetings for teenagers and parents to discuss online issues that they face; the first was held in Omaha, Nebraska on December 6, 2010, the second took place in Chicago on October 25, 2011.^[6]

Advocacy issues[link]

Online Privacy[link]

Common Sense Media supported the U.S. Department of Commerce's creation of an "online privacy policy", which would include a "Privacy Bill of Rights" and would make clear which types of personal information companies are allowed to keep on clients.^[9] It has also called for updates to the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) rules to ensure that they keep pace with changes in technology since the law was passed in 1998 – as documented by Common Sense Media in a report to the Federal Trade Commission as part of a review of the law.^[10]

The organization also helped Massachusetts Representative Edward Markey and Texas Representative Joe Barton draft legislation that required websites aimed at children under 13 to obtain parental permission before collecting personal information. According to the Wall Street Journal, the group also wanted websites to feature an "eraser button" that would allow children and teens to delete information that they’ve posted online about themselves. The group also favored a ban on "behavioral marketing" to kids -- ads targeted at children based on their online activities.^[11]

Violent Video Games[link]

Common Sense Media played a major role in the bi-partisan passage of the 2005 California law restricting the sale of violent video games to minors. The organization submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court regarding the case Schwarzenegger v. Entertainment Merchants Association.^[12] They published a survey, conducted by Zogby International, which asked 2100 parents whether or not they supported the "video game ban bill" – CA Law AB 1793; results showed that 72% of the respondents expressed support for the bill, and another 75% held negative views of the video game industry in general.^[13]

On November 1, 2007, Common Sense Media protested to the Federal Trade Commission about the ESRB's rating downgrade of a revised version of Manhunt 2 from "Adults Only" to "Mature". It protested on the basis that the revised version of the game, which was censored to prevent the game from remaining banned in both countries, was still banned in the UK via the ratings given by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). They also noted that players could still play a "leaked uncensored version" of Manhunt 2 on modded PlayStation 3, as Take-Two Interactive mentioned. The organization asked the FTC to launch a federal investigation into the ESRB rating process, citing the wide availability of the leaked version and the damage to children that the censored version still had.^[14]

The Los Angeles Times called Common Sense Media "one of the most zealous voices when it comes to encouraging state legislation limiting the sale of ultra-violent games to minors.^[3]

Media and Child Health[link]

Common Sense Media participated in the FCC's Child Obesity Taskforce in 2007 and hosted Beyond Primetime, a panel discussion and conference on issues related to kids and media, featuring lead executives from the nation’s top media.^[15]

References[link]

Common sense is defined by Merriam-Webster as, "sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts."^[1] Thus, "common sense" (in this view) equates to the knowledge and experience which most people already have, or which the person using the term believes that they do or should have. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as, "the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way".^[2]

Whichever definition is used, identifying particular items of knowledge as "common sense" is difficult. Philosophers may choose to avoid using the phrase when using precise language. But common sense remains a perennial topic in epistemology and many philosophers make wide use of the concept or at least refer to it. Some related concepts include intuitions, pre-theoretic belief, ordinary language, the frame problem, foundational beliefs, good sense, endoxa, axioms, wisdom, folk wisdom, folklore and public opinion.

Common-sense ideas tend to relate to events within human experience (such as good will), and thus appear commensurate with human scale. Humans lack any common-sense intuition of, for example, the behavior of the universe at subatomic distances [see Quantum mechanics], or of speeds approaching that of light [see Special relativity]. Often ideas that may be considered to be true by common sense are in fact false. Conversely, certain ideas that are subject to elaborate academic analysis oftentimes yield superior outcomes via the application of common sense.

Aristotle[link]

According to Aristotle, the common sense is an actual power of inner sensation (as opposed to the external five senses) whereby the various objects of the external senses (color for sight, sound for hearing, etc.) are united and judged,^[3] such that what one senses by "common sense" is the substance (or existing thing) in which the various attributes inhere (so, for example, a sheep is able to sense a wolf, not just the color of its fur, the sound of its howl, its odor, and other sensible attributes.) It was not, unlike later developments, considered to be on the level of rationality, which properly did not exist in the lower animals, but only in man; this irrational character was because animals not possessing rationality nevertheless required the use of the common sense in order to sense, for example, the difference between this or that thing, and not merely the pleasure and pain of various disparate sensations.^[4] This also contributes to the understanding held by the Scholastics that when one senses, one senses something, and not just a diversity of sensible phenomena.

Common sense, in this view, differs from later views in that it is concerned with the way one receives sensation, and not with belief, or wisdom held by many; accordingly, it is "common", not in the sense of being shared among individuals, or being a genus of the different external senses, but inasmuch as it is a principle which governs the activity of the external senses.^[5]

Locke and the empiricists[link]

John Locke proposed one meaning of "common sense" in his An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. This interpretation builds on phenomenological experience. Each of the senses gives input, and then something integrates the sense-data into a single impression. This something Locke sees as the common sense — the sense of things in common between disparate impressions. It therefore allies with "fancy", and opposes "judgement", or the capacity to divide like things into separates. The French theologian Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet arguably developed this theory a decade before Locke.^[6] Each of the empiricist philosophers approaches the problem of the unification of sense-data in their own way, giving various names to the operation. However, the approaches agree that a sense in the human understanding exists that sees commonality and does the combining: "common sense" has the same meaning.

Epistemology[link]

Appeal to common sense characterises a general epistemological orientation called epistemological particularism (the appellation derives from Roderick Chisholm (1916–1999)). This orientation contrasts with epistemological Methodism. The particularist gathers a list of propositions that seem obvious and unassailable and then requires consistency with this set of propositions as a condition of adequacy for any abstract philosophical theory. (Particularism allows, however, rejection of an entry on the list for inconsistency with other, seemingly more secure, entries.) Epistemological Methodists^{[citation needed]}, on the other hand, begin with a theory of cognition or justification and then apply it to see which of our pre-theoretical beliefs survive. Reid and Moore represent paradigmatic particularists, while Descartes and Hume stand as paradigmatic Methodists. Methodist methodology tends toward skepticism, as the rules for acceptable or rational belief tend to be very restrictive (for instance, Descartes demanded the elimination of doubt; and Hume required the construction of acceptable belief entirely from impressions and ideas).

Particularist methodology, on the other hand, tends toward a kind of conservatism, granting perhaps an undue privilege to beliefs in which we happen to have confidence. One interesting question asks whether epistemological thought can mix the methodologies. In such a case, does it not become problematical to attempt logic, metaphysics and epistemology with the absence of original assumptions stemming from common sense? Particularism, applied to ethics and politics, may seem to simply entrench prejudice and other contingent products of social inculcation (compare cultural determinism). Can one provide a principled distinction between areas of inquiry where reliance on the dictates of common sense seems legitimate (because necessary) and areas where it seems illegitimate (as for example an obstruction to intellectual and practical progress)? A meta-philosophical discussion of common sense may then, indeed, proceed: What is common sense? Supposing that one cannot give a precise characterization of it: does that mean that appeal to common sense remains off-limits in philosophy? What utility does it have to discern whether a belief is a matter of common sense or not? And under what circumstances, if any, might one advocate a view that seems to run contrary to common sense? Should considerations of common sense play any decisive role in philosophy? Common sense in politics is the same as: ordinary, status quo, non-innovative, safe (popular) ideas. If not common sense, then could another similar concept (perhaps "intuition") play such a role? In general, does epistemology have "philosophical starting points", and if so, how can one characterize them? Supposing that no beliefs exist which we will willingly hold come what may, do there though exist some we ought to hold more stubbornly at least?

Projects[link]

• McCarthy's advice-taker proposal of 1958 arguably represents the first scheme to use logic for representing common-sense knowledge in mathematical logic and using an automated theorem prover to derive answers to questions expressed in logical form. Compare Leibniz's calculus ratiocinator and characteristica universalis.
• The Cyc project attempts to provide a basis of common-sense knowledge for artificial-intelligence systems.
• The Open Mind Common Sense project resembles the Cyc project, except that it, like other on-line collaborative projects such as Wikipedia, depends on the contributions of thousands of individuals across the World Wide Web .

See also[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Common sense

Look up common sense in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

References[link]

Notes

The PS22 Chorus is an elementary school chorus from Public School 22 in Graniteville, Staten Island (New York). It is composed of 60-70 fifth-graders, and is directed by Gregg Breinberg. Students are assigned to the chorus after an annual auditioning process at the beginning of each school year. PS22 is the largest elementary school in Staten Island which draws students from a wide cross section of ethnic groups and socio-economic levels. The chorus meets twice a week during school hours to practice, and performs throughout the year at school functions, local events, and on special requests.^[1] It has been featured on several major national news and music networks after its videos had gained international attention within the popular video-sharing site YouTube. To date, the chorus’s videos have been watched more than 45,000,000 times.^[2]

History[link]

The PS22 chorus was founded in 2000 by the school's music teacher, Gregg Breinberg, who started blogging about it in September 2006 following requests on a Tori Amos fan page, where he had shared some of his videos. Since then the chorus has become an Internet phenomenon. In 2009 New York magazine called it "the best-known elementary-school chorus on the planet".^[3]

Chorus of 2006/2007

• The chorus performs for singer-songwriter Tori Amos at the Sony Atrium in New York City. (May 4, 2007)^[4]
• Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton starts blogging about the PS22 chorus and becomes an influential supporter.^[4]

Chorus of 2007/2008

• Neil Finn, lead singer of the New Zealand band Crowded House invites the chorus to sing at the band’s sold-out concert in New York. (April 30, 2008)^[4]
• Former student Andrew Canlon composes a song specifically for the PS22 chorus entitled "All My Life".
• Members of the PS22 chorus of 2007/2008 are featured in several videos of the 2009 television series The Electric Company^[5]

Chorus of 2008/2009

• The electronic band Passion Pit invites the PS22 chorus to sing background vocals on three tracks ("The Reeling", "Little Secrets", "Let Your Love Grow Tall") of their debut album Manners. (2009-01-16)^[6] "The Reeling" is later nominated for an MTV Video Music Award as best breakthrough video.^[7]
• The chorus performs with country singer Cooper Boone at a DKMS charity Gala and meets Chelsea Clinton and R&B singer Rihanna. (May 7, 2009)^[3]
• Nightline features an in-depth look at the PS22 Chorus. (June 10, 2009)
• Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac) invites the chorus to sing for her at Madison Square Garden. (June 11, 2009)^[4]
• The chorus performs on Good Morning America (ABC) (June 22, 2009)^[8]
• The chorus appears on It's On with Alexa Chung (MTV). (August 3, 2009)^[9]
• The chorus is featured on the nationally televised VH1 Divas Special 2009 (September 17, 2009)^[10]

Chorus of 2009/2010

• The newly formed chorus of 2009/2010 is visited by the cast (Naturi Naughton, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, Kherington Payne, Asher Book) and director Kevin Tancharoen of the new 2009 movie Fame. The school is presented a $30,000 check for a new keyboard lab by VH1 Save The Music Foundation Executive Director Paul Cothran, and Director Of Music for New York City Department of Education Barbara Murray. (September 14, 2009)^[11]
• Billboard magazine invites the chorus to perform at an award ceremony for Beyoncé and Lady Gaga. (October 2, 2009) ^[12]
• The chorus performs alongside the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland at the Cross Cultural Youth Festival held at The Armory, Washington Heights for 2500 children from all five boroughs of New York. The event is covered by Fox5 New York. (October 27, 2009) [1]
• Paul Rieckhoff, founder of IAVA, invites the chorus to sing at the Third Annual Heroes Gala at Gotham Hall in New York, hosted by NBC's Brian Williams. (November 10, 2009)^[13]
• The chorus performs with rapper Common at the National Tree Lighting ceremony at the White House with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden attending. (December 3, 2009)^[14]
• During their "Songs From the Heart" tour, Celtic Woman visits PS22 and invites the chorus to join them on two songs at their Radio City Music Hall concert. (February 26, 2010)^[15]
• After hearing the chorus's interpretation of his song "One Day", Chasidic reggae artist Matisyahu visits PS22 and invites the chorus to perform two songs at his concert at New York City's 92nd Street Y. (March 16, 2010)^[16]

Chorus of 2010/2011

• The students perform at the charity organization "New Yorkers for Children". (September 22, 2010)
• At the ONEXONE Gala supported by Matt Damon, the children sing with Matisyahu. (October 27, 2010)
• The chorus perform at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in Manhattan hosted by NBC Anchor Brian Williams. (November 10, 2010)
• The children are visited by Kylie Minogue and perform with her, including the first ever live performance of "Put Your Hands Up (If You Feel Love)". (November 29, 2010)
• The chorus is visited by Bruce Cohen and Anne Hathaway at their 11th Annual Winter Concert and invited to perform at the 83rd Academy Awards. (December 16, 2010)
• The students perform at the 83rd Academy Awards on February 27, 2011.^[17]
• The children perform with Katy Perry on the Oprah Winfrey show post Oscar show at the Kodak Theatre. (February 28, 2011)
• The chorus perform together with The Bangles at the Tribeca Film Festival (April 20, 2011)
• David Cook visits PS22 and performs several songs including "The Last Goodbye" and "Rolling in the Deep" with the chorus. (June 10, 2011)
• The group reunites to perform a 40 minute set at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island. (July 30, 2011)
• PS22 Chorus appears on Sesame Street in a video singing the iconic Sesame song "Somebody Come and Play." (October 21, 2011)

Chorus of 2011/2012

• The children are visited by artist V V Brown who performs several songs with the chorus. (November 16, 2011)
• The chorus performed with 30 Seconds to Mars for the songs "Closer to the Edge" and "Kings and Queens" in what was most likely their final concert at Saint Peter's Church in Chelsea, New York. (December 10, 2011)
• The children are visited by artist Susan Justice and film several songs with her. (January 27, 2012)
• PS22 Chorus alumnus Denise Bestman appears in a commercial for Target singing the song "Rolling In The Deep" by Adele which airs during the 2012 Grammys. (February 12, 2012)
• The students perform a tribute to Whitney Houston singing "The Greatest Love of All" on the Piers Morgan Tonight show on CNN. (February 17, 2012)
• Sinéad O'Connor invites PS22 to open up her show at the Highline Ballroom in NYC, and joins the chorus onstage to perform her song "Jackie." (February 24, 2012)
• The kids sing "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to legendary singer-songwriter,Paul Simon, at 2012 New Yorker for New York Gala (February 27, 2012)
• PS22 Chorus performs at NEA's (National Education Association) Read Across America Event at New York Public Library featuring Zac Efron & Danny DeVito in honor of the birthday of Dr. Seuss (March 2, 2012)
• Celtic Woman returns to PS22 and records several songs with the chorus (March 12, 2012)
• PS22 Chorus records a video promo to save music education with Ingrid Michaelson for DoSomething.org in conjunction with Vh1's Save The Music Foundation (March 9, 2012)
• Gym Class Heroes invites PS22 Chorus to take the stage with them at their concert at Wagner College to perform "The Fighter" (April 21, 2012)
• The chorus performed "Good Girl" and "So Small" with Grammy Award-winning artist, Carrie Underwood, when she visits the kids at their school. (April 27, 2012)

Media coverage[link]

TV appearances

• ABC News Nightline (ABC)^[1]
• Good Day New York (Fox 5)^[18]
• MTV News with Sway Calloway (MTV)^[19]
• NBC Nightly News;; (msnbc)^[20]
• Hollywood 411 (TV Guide Network)^[21]
• The Bonnie Hunt Show^[22]
• Anderson Cooper 360° (CNN)^[23]
• RTL Television (German television station)
• 83rd Academy Awards
• The Oprah Winfrey Show (CBS)

Radio appearances

• All Things Considered (NPR)^[24]
• Chris Evans (BBC)^[25]
• Q (CBC)^[26]
• The Howard Stern Show^[27]
• Joan Hamburg (WOR-2)^[28]
• Rubrik 'Musik' (detektor.fm) ^[29]
• Akustischer Adventskalender (detektor.fm) ^[30]

Newspaper/Online Newspaper articles

• The New York Times^[31]
• New York Magazine^[3]
• In June 2009 an Associated Press article by Verena Dobnik brought worldwide attention to the chorus. The article ran in prominent newspapers and on websites like The Guardian,^[32] The Boston Globe,^[33] The Seattle Times,^[34] The Huffington Post^[4] and many more.
• Dein Spiegel (German magazine for children)
• Time (magazine)
• Daily News (New York)
• Los Angeles Times

Visit By Walk The Moon!

Awards[link]

• COAHSi (Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island) Award 2003 and 2009 ^[35]
• Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Award 2010 ^[36]
• Webby Artist of the Year Award 2010 ^[37]
• Common Sense Media Award 2011

References[link]

External links[link]

• Blogspot Homepage
• Official YouTube channel

Robert Pattinson
Pattinson at the premiere of Water for Elephants in 2011.
Born	Robert Thomas Pattinson (1986-05-13) 13 May 1986 (age 26) London, England , UK
Other names	Rob, R-Pattz,[1] Spunk Ransom[2] (nicknames)
Occupation	Actor, model, musician, producer
Years active	2004–present
Relatives	Lizzy Pattinson (sister)
Signature

Robert Thomas Pattinson^[3] (born 13 May 1986)^[4] is an English actor, model, musician, and producer.^[5] Born and raised in London, Pattinson started out his career by playing the role of Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.^[6] Later, he landed the leading role of Edward Cullen in the film adaptations of the Twilight novels by Stephenie Meyer, and came to worldwide fame,^[7][8] thus establishing himself among the highest paid and most bankable actors in Hollywood.^[9][10][11] In 2010, Pattinson was named one of TIME magazine's 100 Most Influential People in The World, and also in the same year Forbes ranked him as one of the most powerful celebrities in the world in the Forbes Celebrity 100.^[12][13]

Early life[link]

Pattinson was born in London, England. His mother, Clare, worked for a modelling agency, and his father, Richard, imported vintage cars from the U.S.^[14] Pattinson has two elder sisters, singer Lizzy Pattinson, and Victoria Pattinson.^[15][16] Growing up in the Barnes suburb of London,^[17] he attended Tower House School until he was 12, and then The Harrodian School.^[18][19] He became involved in amateur theatre at the Barnes Theatre Company. He auditioned and was cast in a small role in Guys and Dolls. He next auditioned for Thornton Wilder's Our Town and was cast as George Gibbs. He also played in Anything Goes and Macbeth.^[20] He caught the attention of an acting agent in a production of Tess of the d'Urbervilles and began looking for professional roles.

Career[link]

Modelling[link]

Pattinson began modelling when he was twelve years old, but the number of jobs began to decrease only four years later. In December 2008 he blamed the lack of work as a model on his masculine appearance: "When I first started I was quite tall and looked like a girl, so I got lots of jobs, because it was during that period where the androgynous look was cool. Then, I guess, I became too much of a guy, so I never got any more jobs. I had the most unsuccessful modelling career."^[21] Pattinson appeared in the advertising campaign for Hackett's autumn 2007 collection.^[22]

Acting[link]

Early career[link]

Pattinson had supporting roles in the made for television film Ring of the Nibelungs in 2004 and in director Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair, although his scenes in the latter were deleted and only appear on the DVD version.^[23] In May 2005, he was slated to appear in the UK premiere of The Woman Before at the Royal Court Theatre, but was fired shortly before the opening night and was replaced by Tom Riley.^[24] Later that year he played Cedric Diggory in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. For this role he was named that year's British Star of Tomorrow by The Times^[25] and had more than once been touted as the next Jude Law.^[19][26][27]

2008-present[link]

In 2008 Pattinson landed the coveted role of Edward Cullen in the film Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's best-selling novel of the same name. According to TV Guide, Pattinson was initially apprehensive about auditioning for the role of Edward Cullen, fearful that he would not be able to live up to the "perfection" expected from the character.^[28] The film was released on November 21, 2008 and turned Pattinson into an instant overnight moviestar.^[29] Though the film received mixed reviews, critics praised his and co-star Kristen Stewart's chemisty in the film.^[30] The New York Times called Pattinson a "capable and exotically beautiful" actor^[31] and Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times said he was "well-chosen" for the role.^[32]

After Twilight Pattinson starred in the independent films Little Ashes (in which he plays Salvador Dalí), How to Be (a British comedy), andThe Summer House.

He reprised his role as Edward Cullen in the Twilight sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon which was released on November 20, 2009. The film earned a record-breaking $142,839,137 opening weekend and an overall run of $709,827,462 worldwide.^[33] Though the film received negative reviews, film critic Michael Phillips from the Chicago Tribune said Pattinson was still "interesting to watch" despite the bad makeup.^[34] Bill GoodyKoontz from the Arizona Republic said, "Pattinson's actually not in the film that much, but he does his best when he's around"^[35] and Michael O'Sullivan of the Washington Post noted that his acting was "uniformly strong".^[36]

Pattinson at the 2009 Academy Awards

In 2009 Pattinson presented at the 81st Academy Awards.^[37] On November 10, Revolver Entertainment released the DVD Robsessed, a documentary which details Pattinson's life and popularity.^[38]

On May 13, 2010, Pattinson appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and on May 18, The Ellen DeGeneres Show for his film, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.^[39] He attended the official worldwide red carpet premiere for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on June 24, 2010, at the Los Angeles Nokia Theatre^[40] and the film was released on June 30, 2010, earning $698,491,347 worldwide.^[41][42]

In 2010, Pattinson executively produced and starred in the film Remember Me, which was released on March 12, 2010.^[43]

In 2011, he starred as Jacob Jankowski in Water for Elephants, a film adaptation of the Sara Gruen novel of the same name, with Christoph Waltz and Reese Witherspoon.^[44] The film received mixed reviews but Pattinson's performance was praised. Film critic Richard Corliss from Time praised Pattinson for being "shy and watchful" and said he "radiates a slow magnetism that locks the viewer’s eyes on him", ultimately calling him "star quality".^[45] Mick LaSalle from the San Francisco Chronicle stated that Pattinson succeeded at holding his own at the center of a major feature and was "endlessly watchable".^[46] Peter Travers of the Rolling Stone said he "smolders" in the film^[47] and Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "Pattinson is entirely convincing as Jacob".^[48]

Pattinson reappeared as Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1, which was released on November 18, 2011, and earned $705,058,657 at the box office.^[49]

He played Georges Duroy in a film adaptation of the 1885 novel Bel Ami, with Uma Thurman, Christina Ricci, and Kristin Scott Thomas. The film had a world premiere at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival^[50] and was released on February 12, 2012.^[51]

Pattinson will be starring in the upcoming film adaptation of Don Delillo's Cosmopolis, directed by David Cronenberg in 2012.^[52] The film has been selected to compete for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival.^[53][54]

In May 2012, Pattinson was cast alongside Guy Pierce to star in David Michod's The Rover.^[55] He was also cast to star in the psychological thriller, Mission: Blacklist (film), based on the novel of the same name by military interrogator, Eric Maddox.^[56]

Music[link]

Pattinson plays guitar and piano, and composes his own music.^[57] He also appears as the singer of two songs on the Twilight soundtrack: "Never Think", which he co-wrote with Sam Bradley,^[58] and "Let Me Sign", which was written by Marcus Foster and Bobby Long.^[59] The songs were included in the film after director Catherine Hardwicke added Pattinson's recordings into an early cut without his knowledge, and he agreed that "one of them specifically, it really made the scene better. It was like it was supposed to be there."^[5] The soundtrack for the film How to Be features three original songs performed by Pattinson^[60] and written by composer Joe Hastings.^[61]

Aside from recording for the soundtracks, Pattinson has said, "I've never really recorded anything – I just played in pubs and stuff", and when asked about a professional music career, he said, "Music is my back-up plan if acting fails."^[5] In 2010, Pattinson was awarded the 'Hollywood's Most Influential Top Unexpected Musicians' award.

In the media[link]

Pattinson after The Twilight Saga: New Moon photo call at Crillon Hotel in 2009

Pattinson was named one of the "Sexiest Men Alive" in 2008 and 2009 by People magazine.^[62][63] In 2009, he was also named the "Sexiest Man Alive" by Glamour.^[64] Ask Men named Pattinson as one of the top 49 most influential men of 2009.^[65] In 2009, Vanity Fair named Pattinson "the most handsome man in the world" along with Angelina Jolie as the most beautiful woman in the world.^[66]

He was named one of Vanity Fair's "Top Hollywood Earners of 2009" with estimated earnings of $18 million in 2009.^[9][67]

In December 2009, Pattinson autographed a guitar to be auctioned off for charity.^[68] He also volunteered for the Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief in January 2010.^[69]

GQ and Glamour both named him the "Best Dressed Man" of 2010, with GQ stating, "Extremely elegant and inspiring, the true essence of a contemporary man."^[70][71] In 2010, People also listed Pattinson in their "World's Most Beautiful" issue.^[72]

In 2010, Pattinson politely turned down a $2 million fashion campaign with Burberry.^[73]

Britain's The Sunday Times "Rich List" put him on its "list of young millionaires" in the UK, worth £13 million.^[74] Time magazine named him as one of 2010's 100 Most Influential People in The World.^[12] In June 2010, Pattinson was named by Forbes magazine the No.50 most powerful celebrity in the world with earnings $17 million.^[13] Due to Pattinson's rising fame, a wax statue of him was added to the Madame Tussauds collection in London and New York City.^[75] On 14 November 2010, Pattinson received two BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards, Best Dressed and Best Actor.^[76]

In 2011, Pattinson was No. 15 on Vanity Fair's "Hollywood Top 40" with earnings of $27.5 million in 2010.^[77] GQ once again named Pattinson the "Best Dressed Man" of 2012.^[78]

Personal life[link]

Since meeting on the set of Twilight, Pattinson has been romantically linked to co-star Kristen Stewart.^[79] Though they have never explicitly confirmed a relationship, paparazzi photographs and eyewitness accounts have driven intense media and fan speculation and attention making "Robsten" the subject of wide media coverage.^[80]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robert Pattinson

• Media related to Robert Pattinson at Wikimedia Commons
• Robert Pattinson at the Internet Movie Database

Prof. Sugata Mitra is Professor of Educational Technology at the School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. He is best known for his "Hole in the Wall" experiment, and widely cited in works on literacy and education. He is also Chief Scientist, Emeritus, at NIIT.

Mitra has been described as a polymath by the University of London, as his 30 years of research spans a wide range of disciplines.

Life and work[link]

He was born in Calcutta, India on 12 February 1952.^[1]

Early scientific work[link]

Starting with molecular orbital computation in the 1970s, Mitra discovered that the structure of organic molecules determine their function more than the constituent atoms (Crystal structure sensitivity of the band structure of organic semiconductors. S.C. Mathur and S. Mitra, Journal of Phys.C Solid State, 12, (2) (1979) UK).

After earning a Ph.D. in Solid State Physics from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT), Delhi, he went on to research energy storage systems - first at the Centre for Energy Studies in the IIT, and later at the Technische Universität, Vienna. This resulted in a new design for zinc-chlorine batteries that is now in use by the military (A design for zinc-chlorine batteries. S. Mitra, Journal of Power Sources, 8, 359-367 (1982) USA).

His interests in the flow of electricity through biological systems, a consequence of his Ph.D. research on exciton dissociation in organic semiconductors, led on to a seminally speculative paper on why the human sense organs are located where they are (A correlation between the location and sensitivity of human sense organs. A.K. Banerjee and S. Mitra, Spec. Science and Technology, 5, (2), 141 (1982) Australia).

His interest in computer networking led him towards the emerging systems in printing in the 1980s. He set up India’s first local area network based newspaper publishing system in 1984 and went on to predict the desktop publishing industry (Compositors that compute, S. Mitra, Computers Today, May 1985, India). This in turn led to the invention of LAN based database publishing and he created the “Yellow Pages” industry in India and Bangladesh.

Education and cognitive science[link]

Mitra is a leading proponent of Minimally Invasive Education. He has a PhD in Physics and is credited with more than 25 inventions in the area of cognitive science and education technology. He was conferred the prestigious Dewang Mehta Award for Innovation in Information Technology in the year 2005.^[2]

His interest in the human mind once again led him into the areas of learning and memory and he was amongst the first in the world to show that simulated neural networks can help decipher the mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease (The effect of synaptic disconnection on bi-directional associative recall. S. Mitra, Proc. IEEE/SMC Conf., Vol.1, 989, 1994 USA).

He was among the first people to invent "voluntary perception recording" (a continuously variable voting machine) and a hyperlinked computing environment, several years ahead of the Internet. ^[3]

Mitra’s work at NIIT created the first curricula and pedagogy for that organisation, followed by years of research on learning styles, learning devices, several of them now patented, multimedia and new methods of learning.

Since the 1970s, Professor Mitra’s publications and work has resulted in training and development of perhaps a million young Indians, amongst them some of the poorest children in the world.

Some of this work culminated in an interest in early literacy, and the Hole in the Wall experiments.

Hole in the Wall[link]

In an experiment conducted first in 1999, known as Hole in the Wall (HIW) experiments in children’s learning. In the initial experiment, a computer was placed in a kiosk created within a wall in a slum at Kalkaji, Delhi and children were allowed to use it freely.^[4] The experiment aimed at proving that kids could be taught by computers very easily without any formal training. Sugata termed this as Minimally Invasive Education (MIE). The experiment has since been repeated at many places, HIW has more than 23 kiosks in rural India. In 2004 the experiment was also carried on in Cambodia.^[5] His interests include Education, Remote Presence, Self-organising systems, Cognitive Systems, Physics and Consciousness.

This work demonstrated that groups of children, irrespective of who or where they are, can learn to use computers and the Internet on their own using public computers in open spaces such as roads and playgrounds, even without knowing English.^[6] His publication was judged the best open access publication in the world for 2005 and he was awarded the Diwang Mehta Award for innovation in IT that year.

The Hole in the Wall experiment left a mark on popular culture. Indian diplomat Vikas Swarup read about Mitra's experiment and was inspired to write his debut novel Q & A, which later became the movie Slumdog Millionaire.

External links[link]

• Hole in the wall official website
• The Hole in the Wall Experiment, TED Talks 2007
• The Child-Driven Education, TED talks 2010
• The Hole in the Wall, a documentary about the experiment
• Press release about Dewang Mehta Award
• HIW: Kids learn computer by themselves: An interview with Dr Mitra published in a Hindi webzine.
• Personal profile at Newcastle University
• Wiki referenced during Ted Talks

References[link]