Computers and Writing 2020 Funding Request: Submitted

My contributions this year are a workshop on #Inform7 and “Fixed It For You: Modding Memes, Maps and Minds”. Similar:Vote for your favorite Monopoly token — or else!One of the six current game pieces will …AestheticsWorld Trade Center Literary and Cultural Reflections (first posted September 11, 2001) Not knowing what else to do, in the…

Pop song lyrics use more negative words (“hate”, “sorrow”) than 50 years ago

The use of words related to negative emotions has increased by more than one third…. If we assume an average of 300 words per song, every year there are 30,000 words in the lyrics of the [Billboard] top-100 hits. In 1965, around 450 of these words were associated with negative emotions, whereas in 2015 their number was above 700. Meanwhile, words associated with positive emotions decreased in the same time period.

These Fake Local News Sites Have Confused People For Years. (Buzzfeed) Found Out Who Created Them.

People who caught the sites plagiarizing began speculating about the motivations of whoever was running them. One person noticed that their Google Alerts for Julian Assange were flooded with results from the sites, leading them to warn that “cyber marketing tools are being used in the propaganda war against #WikiLeaks.” One researcher labeled the network of sites…

My students seem increasingly confused by the difference between journal title vs. article title

Sometimes students will submit bibliography entries that repeat a title — either the journal or the article.  I assume they are using an online citation generator and I assume they’re not bothering to check its output. What I had previously thought of as a random careless error now seems evidence of a paradigm shift. I’ve…

Pen Pals (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season 2, Episode 15) Data Hears a Who

Rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation A new-to-me “Data Hears a Who” character story, featuring a multi-layered philosophical jam session in Picard’s quarters, a substantial B-plot for Wesley, and some tacked-on science-fictiony frippery for the groundlings. I started watching the show late at night, and lost interest when Wesley was steeling himself in the hallway…

MoonBot (from the family #steampunk bedtime RPG 2007-2013) vs. a crate and lamps.

MoonBot (from the family steampunk bedtime RPG 2007-2013) vs. a crate and lamps.

Similar:The Most Awesome 450 Page Presentation Everhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt9F7tKc…AestheticsI’m a 12-year-old girl. Why don’t the characters in my apps look like me? I found that when an app did sell girl…BusinessPew finds embattled newspaper industry still pulls in more than half of all news revenueRevenue is not the same thing as profit,…BusinessClassroom Vignette: MLA StyleStudent (shouldering backpack…

On the Hatred of Literature

Going back to Plato—perhaps the first hater of literature on record—philosophers and religious authorities have attacked art for the same reasons our professors taught us to deconstruct and distrust it: because it is unpredictable, unreasonable and often inconsistent with their preferred politics or morality. It was also a lesson that was destined, in the years…

Dennis G. Jerz | Associate Professor of English -- New Media Journalism, Seton Hill University | jerz.setonhill.edu Logo

In January 2000, I was blogging about dancing paperclips, the transience of literary judgement, “bafflegab,” and a planned B&N/Microsoft online bookstore

In January 2000, I was blogging about Dancing paperclips and telemarketers A “100 best novels” list published in 1899 Updike’s prequel to Hamlet The “bafflegab” jargon generator “Bookseller Barnes & Noble is teaming with Microsoft to build a new online e-book store.” (but the link is dead) Similar:Okay, please stop droolingIt perfectly pulls together four…

I do not know why this antique service button from my campus cafeteria delights me so.

Similar:Making a journalism game to teach myself ChoiceScriptMe: (Making a journalism game to teach m…AcademiaA pleasant Independence Day photo shoot with the daughter.AestheticsJoyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s cata…Looks like the quality control process a…AcademiaSlow flyby of a scout shop. Starfield backdrop; particle-based engine exhaust; hull uses…

Over time, Google has made paid ads harder to spot

  In 2007, Google changed the long-standing shaded background indicating the ads section of the page from blue to yellow. In 2008, it then briefly tried a green background before reverting back to yellow. Google continued to test variations of background colors including bright blue and a light violet. In 2010, violet officially replaced the…

Tuxedo Pooh Reads Oscar Wilde

I spent an hour on this. Below is the original version, as generated by imageflip.com, before my edits. Similar:20 Things 20-Year-Olds Don't GetI expect my English majors not to balk w…AcademiaThe Hidden Signs That Can Reveal a Fake Photo Farid emphasises that forensic techniq…CybercultureOverwhelmed? Start a new to-do list with "1) Breathe; 2) Make 'to-do'…

Dennis G. Jerz | Associate Professor of English -- New Media Journalism, Seton Hill University | jerz.setonhill.edu Logo

During a modest snowfall, I’m passing the time in a public place where someone else has turned on the local TV news. #StormSurge #FearCast #manipulation

Stay tuned for more live footage of StormSurge FearCast Weather Crusaders, standing in the cold, snow blowing in their faces! Media personalities, warning everyone to stay inside, except of course for the media personalities paying back student loans by churning out anxiety-producing live reports like this one! Our own Slick Goodhair, telling you just how…

Me loving my birthday truck, c. 1971.

  I adored this truck, and spelling words with the letters. When I got older, it was the shuttlecraft for my Star Trek figures. Similar:Happy Easter 2022PersonalScrooge Is My BrotherMy daughter delivered the opening “Marle…CultureJustice (TNG Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 7) When Wes trips on a fence, joggers' god gets in…In which Wesley commits a…