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You didn’t make the Harlem Shake go viral—corporations did

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I never found “Harlem Shake” videos to be very interesting, or particularly creative, or memeworthy. Here’s a good exploration.

“Single Ladies,” “Somebody That I Used To Know,” Carly Rae Jepson’s “Call Me Maybe,” and Psy’s “Gangnam Style” were made by professionals and first imitated by professionals—Saturday Night Live in the case of “Single Ladies,” indie [...]

Academia | Books | Business | Current_Events | Cyberculture | Design | Ethics | Literacy | Media | Social_Software | Technology | Writing

Real college classes have writing assignments and required reading.

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While I can imagine teaching a course that intersects with the interests of a wide, non academic audience, a series of free, optional online public lectures would be great public service, but not great teaching.

I’m sorry if this bursts anyone’s bubble, but watching videos on the Internet and maybe writing a few very short [...]

Business | Cyberculture | Social_Software | Technology

Twitter Cheat Sheet to Help Increase Engagement

-Brands see 17 percent more engagement during the weekend, yet only 19 percent of brands’ tweets are sent out on Saturday and Sunday

-92 percent of engagement with a brand’s tweets are link clicks

-Engagement rates are highest for brands that tweet once a day

-Tweets with image links see double the engagement rate when [...]

Books | Culture | Cyberculture | Media | Writing

The art of making magazines (edited by victor s. navasky and evan cornog)

If you’re reading this, it’s a safe bet you read magazines. Technically, you may even be reading one now—though I’m not sure if bookforum.com really qualifies. The “.com” might denote precisely what isn’t Bookforum. I’m typing onto a computer screen; you’re reading from one. No trees have been killed. Are we in a magazine? I’m [...]

Business | Cyberculture | Ethics | Media | Rhetoric | Technology

Defend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C Standards

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The DRM proposals at the W3C exist for a simple reason: they are an attempt to appease Hollywood, which has been angry about the Internet for almost as long as the Web has existed, and has always demanded that it be given elaborate technical infrastructure to control how its audience’s computers function. The perception is [...]

Business | Current_Events | Cyberculture | Journalism | Social_Software | Writing

Washington Post seeks blogger to post ‘at least’ 12 times per day

The ideal candidate would have experience reporting, writing and producing online content as well as a proven fluency in social media. We need someone with the confidence to work independently, but also a team player who can collaborate with our critics, columnists and reporters.

This blogger should be able to identify trends, cutting through the [...]

Business | Culture | Current_Events | Cyberculture | Journalism | Media

Pew’s State of the Media: Ignore the doomsaying. American journalism has never been healthier.

American news media has never been in better shape. That’s just common sense. Almost anything you’d want to know about any subject is available at your fingertips. You don’t need to take my analysis of the Cyprus bank bailout crisis as the last word on the matter: You can quickly and easily find coverage from [...]

Academia | Cyberculture | Essays | Humanities | Journalism | Modding | Rhetoric | Social_Software | Writing

The Blessay

My own pedagogical term for this is “richly-linked blog post” — emphasizing the value of hyperlinking to sources, evidence, definitions, counterpoints, etc. (Thanks for the link, John S.)

Sorry, I don’t have a better name for it, but I feel it needs a succinct name so we can identify and discuss it. It’s not a [...]

Business | Culture | Current_Events | Cyberculture | Essays | Ethics | Government | Modding | Technology | Usability

Forget the Cellphone Fight — We Should Be Allowed to Unlock Everything We Own

As long as Congress focuses on just unlocking cellphones, they’re missing the larger point. Senators could pass a hundred unlocking bills; five years from now large companies will find some other copyright claim to limit consumer choice. To really solve the problem, Congress must enact meaningful copyright reform. The potential economic benefits are significant, as [...]

Amusing | Cyberculture | Media

When In Academia – WHEN A COLLEAGUE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT ‘DIGITAL HUMANITIES’:

When In Academia – WHEN A COLLEAGUE KEEPS TALKING ABOUT ‘DIGITAL HUMANITIES’:.