I think they mean “Teaching digital humanities to undergraduates could boost…” Pedagogically, undergraduate forays into the digital humanities need not be as complete or ambitious as building formal archives and discovery tools from scratch, the panelists said. Rather, the point is to spur students to “think critically and differently” about digital gateways and to “encourage…
My son’s robot-building team is making good progress. Still Rolling Team Arm: It shoots!
Smith sat down with All Things Considered’s Melissa Block to talk about writing a poem in a hurry. She called the day she spent with NPR’s producers “delightful, and a little terrifying.” But reflecting on the headlines isn’t exactly a new activity for Smith. In fact, she said she often finds that news events are…
copyranter: New Milwaukee Public Library ads mock facebook, YouTube, and Twitter..
You may also notice the offer, at right, for a special pair of glasses glasses. Order them—or, if you have them already, remove them from their plastic casing and put them on; you will notice that when viewed through these glasses, the doubly printed words appear to leapleap off the screen screen. At first, the effect may be…
Not quite as dramatic as the creation of the evil robotess Maria (in the 1927 Fritz Lang film Metropolis), but more educational. Kids and some dads from my son’s FIRST Robotics Competition club discuss strategy. I’m blogging the process; soon I hope to get the kids involved, but for understandable reasons, they are mostly interested…
Leo Tolstoy is scribbling furiously in the light of a dimly burning candle. At such close quarters, its searing heat has covered his forehead in a permanent patina of sweat, making the great novel a true work of toil. Suddenly, in the middle of a particularly vivid war scene, he curses out loud and blows…
If you can’t code, can critique produce new knowledge in digital humanities? Like the PowerPoint templates that emulate chalkboards, or the 3.5-inch diskette that often still decorates the “save” button in apps used by people who never touch floppy disks, the very term “digital humanities” exemplifies the debate. It’s a transitory term, like “electric icebox,”…
“The hardest fun you’ll ever have.” — FIRST Robotics slogan At Carnegie Mellon, waiting for the FIRST Robotics Competition 2012 Kickoff to start. I’m one of the mentors of our new club, the JCP 4H Gears. Today we will get a box of parts, and we’ll be told the rules of the game that will…
I don’t know the original source… Saw it on Facebook.
Lego, I understand that girls have been telling you they want more stuff for girls. I have been looking for more good stuff for girls myself. But I have not been looking for yet another arena where boys and girls are shown that their interests and activities can never mix. The beauty of Lego was…
What started out as random green cubes turned into some kind of shrubbery. I spent too much time fiddling with the bushes. They’re good enough. I’ve cleaned up the Griffin’s eyes, and added some camera motion so we zoom in on his face. His wings waggled back and forth too much last time, so I…
She tells her students to begin by writing a one-sheet description of the project. This description will not be perfect or final, but it will set the filmmaking process into motion. Briefly sketch your themes, story, characters, and the filmmaking style you would like to use. (A good way to start choosing a style is…
For educators who are interested in both computers and writing, interactive fiction games (aka text adventures) offer exciting possibilities. This workshop introduces the interactive fiction programming language Inform, which uses a syntax that resembles ordinary English. Here is a sample of Inform 7 code: The Hotel Lobby is a room. A buffet table is in…
Apple just released an update of its very nice iBooks. The Kindle still is my preferred ereader for personal reasons, but I prefer to teach with iBooks. Last year when I taught a literature survey, I experimented with asking students to use out-of-copyright free etexts, and to annotate them in iBooks. The fact that iBooks…
Before settling down to finish reading Mr. Popper’s Penguins, my daughter made this Lego reindeer.
Ferrell’s wife, Karen, buys groceries and not all her clothes come from the dumpster, and some of their furnishings did not come from the trash. But Ferrell says he never buys clothes for himself. Scrounging is his word for what he does. When he moved to Texas 10 years ago from Arizona, Ferrell decided to…
In fact, while Lamarr qualified as an inventive genius for her artistic flair, she fell somewhat short on her scientific acumen. She certainly fizzed with creative ideas throughout her life. My favorites include sugary “bouillon” cubes to plop into water for an instant Coke, and a “skin-tautening technique based on the principles of the accordion.”…