See also my resources on interactive fiction (text adventure games), programming in Inform 7, making games in Scratch, and coding hypertext stories in Twine.
I wonder what they call it when you can’t think of what to write in a weblog? Writer’s Blog, weblock? —Anna-Marie —Comfortably Numb (ilex) One of Mike Vitia‘s students coins a term. Students in several of my classes are engaging in drive-by blogging, which is the flurry of entries that one posts just before the blogging…
In addition to a Sony PlayStation 2, the family has some special equipment: a S.M.A.R.T. BrainGames system that consists of a special controller, a helmet with built-in sensors for monitoring brain activity and a Smartbox that receives the brain signals. As long as the boys remain calmly focused on the game, it plays normally, says…
Hi, I’m a reporter with National Public Radio and I’m doing a story on the plague that’s hit World of Warcraft. I’m really interested in talking to some people who play the game about the plague and what’s been done about it and generally how it feels to have your virtual character done in by…
More and more, video game-related courses are being offered in colleges around the country in response to the digital media industry’s appetite for skilled workers and the tastes of a new generation of students raised on Game Boy and Xbox. —Michael Hill —More Colleges Offering Video Game Courses (AP|MyWay) Seton Hill University January, 2006 (3 weeks,…
—Keybag (João Sabino) I can hear my wife now… “Where did I put my keys?”
The original handwritten manuscript of what became Alice in Wonderland has been put online using software to virtually turn the pages. Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, by Lewis Carroll, is the latest 3D addition to the British Library’s Turning the Pages collection of books. —Original Alice work in 3D online (BBC) I had to hunt on the…
Leaving a comment on someone‘sweblog is like walking into their living room and joining in on a conversation. As in real life, online there are some people who are a pleasure to converse with, and some who are not. Good blog commenters add to the discussion and are known as knowledgeable, informative, friendly and engaged.…
It perfectly pulls together four important tools that no geek should ever be without (USB flash drive, LED light, Swiss Army knife, ballpoint pen). These functions have been skillfully integrated into this single super tool. Along with all these great features you also get the legendary construction quality and materials that Swiss Army knives have…
—Wooden Case Mod… and more My jaw dropped and I literally gasped when I saw these images. Are they real? Not a phenomenal CGI project? It doesn’t matter — it’s beautiful! Thanks for the link, Will! By the way, my birthday’s coming up next month… hint, hint!
—BlogSearch (Google) Google’s new blog search engine. Looks like it pays too much attention to splogs (fake websites that look like blogs, but exist only to drive traffic to commercial sites). Nevertheless, I found a few references to SHU blogs that I didn’t see in other search engines.
Discovering that the static that came through our phone could bring the dead, tv-looking thing on our table to life was one of the most fascinating moments of my youth and young manhood. Sadly, that tone is almost gone from our world now, as dial-up disappears in favor of broadband connections (and rightly so). But…
O professor deve deixar claro o que espera. Não traduzi por falta de tempo, mas é uma proposta muito estruturada e, em parte, inspirada pelo fato dos alunos terem uma preocupação maior com o como serão avaliados do que com o que vão aprender. —Refletindo sobre blogs (Projetos Colaborativos) With help from faculty colleagues and Babelfish,…
New media, he said, breaks down the economic model of the business he has worked in all these years. “This is really the first time since William Randolph Hearst that a young journalist can think like an entrepreneur,” Mr. Jarvis said. —Tania Ralli —A Journalist and Blogger Tries Teaching (New York Times) Our academic dean sent…
She says one of the most powerful facilities in weblogs is pinging, which involves a person posting a comment about someone else’s work on their own blog. They use the ‘TrackBack’ tool to notify the author when they have published the comment, basically inviting them to discuss it. “It alerts the original author that someone…
Two secretaries at one of Sydney’s top law firms have been sacked after a catty email exchange that was circulated around the city’s legal and financial district. —Secretaries sacked after cyber brawl (News.com.au) Think before you push “send”. Think before you blog. Think before you write. Think before you talk. Different technologies, same lesson.
I can’t write about my work. Why? Because it is coming out in tomorrow’s edition. I can’t write about my personal life. Why? Because I’ve already given away -way- too much. I can’t give my opinion about current events. Why? Because I’m supposed to be this objective journalist. I’ve reached a point in my blogger…
Even if you’re squeaky clean, an employer still could find dirt attached to your name — if someone with the same name is out there ranting on Nazi-type sites or proposing odd activities with orangutans. —Patricia Kitchen —Expect recruiters to Google you for ”digital dirt” (Newsday|Seattle Times) Thanks, Katie, for suggesting this story.
The statistical tests for uncovering job discrimination assume that men are not innately different from women, blacks from whites, older people from younger people, homosexuals from heterosexuals, Latinos from Anglos, in ways that can legitimately affect employment decisions. Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 assumes that women are no different from men in…
The Wikipedia, which has surged this year to become the most popular reference site on the Web, is fast overtaking several major news sites as the place where people swarm for context on breaking events. Traffic to the multilingual network of sites has grown 154 percent over the past year, according to research firm Hitwise.…
As my original column made clear (and many amid the outcry reiterated) when it comes to blogging, I just don’t “get it.” That’s right, I don’t. Many in the tenured generation don’t, and they’ll be sitting on hiring committees for years to come. If that’s bad news, I’m sorry. But would it really be better…