Multimodal Composing, Sketchnotes, and Idea Generation
Using the mixed media of sketch notes, animation, and voiceover, this video explores the field of composition’s relationship between multimodality and composing. The piece illustrates how multimodal strategies such as sketchnotes can enhance idea generation and learning and provide classroom strategies for multimodal composition. […] We must remember that, yes, digital composition is multimodal but…
Why Textbooks And Education Are To Blame For Fake News
The way we teach it at Seton Hill, as a process that leads to a researched term paper, I think it’s safe to add freshman comp to the good list. We continue to operate on the basis that knowledge is stored in repositories, usually a book or an teacher. This dependence on textbooks has distorted…
The science of fake news: Addressing fake news requires a multidisciplinary effort
The rise of fake news highlights the erosion of long-standing institutional bulwarks against misinformation in the internet age. Concern over the problem is global. […] Our call is to promote interdisciplinary research to reduce the spread of fake news and to address the underlying pathologies it has revealed. Failures of the U.S. news media in…
Good example of ‘do NOT remove things from photos.’
Hat tip to my former student Kiley Fischer, who brought this story to my attention saying “Good example of ‘do NOT remove things from photos.’” Longtime City Paper reader Edward King-Smith, 37, of Pittsburgh’s Stanton Heights neighborhood was among those who alerted Deitch that his publication included a photo of a woman tattoo artist wearing…
The Media Pyramid: “Any content where ideology leads to falsehood is bad for you.”
You Are the Media You Eat
For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers. Here’s What I Learned.
Farhad Manjoo says he’s a better, more-informed person thanks to his decision to try getting his news only from print sources. Turning off the buzzing breaking-news machine I carry in my pocket was like unshackling myself from a monster who had me on speed dial, always ready to break into my day with half-baked bulletins.…
Again with the chess.
I try to go to Planet Fitness or chess with my son each day. Did not get to either yesterday.
The Girl Has Started Rehearsals for PICT Classic Theatre’s Jane Eyre
I’ve chauffeured the girl into Pittsburgh for the first rehearsal for PICT’s Jane Eyre. She’ll be playing Leah (Mr. Rochester’s servant at Thornfield Hall), Barbara (a different servant at Lowood school), Georgiana (one of Jane’s girlhood tormentors in the Reed household), and “Girl 1″ (maybe one of the adult Jane’s pupils, or perhaps a classmate…
Enjoyed watching “Queen of Katwe” (Ugandan girl chess prodigy movie)
I enjoyed watching this chess-themed coming-of-age, based-on-a-true-story movie with my son today. Good storytelling and cinematography. I liked the bit during the closing credits when we saw the real people alongside the actors who portrayed them.
Among today’s major professional accomplishments: installing this hook. #springbreak
My office door feels more complete now.
Chilling analysis of organized, anonymous disinformation campaign against Parkland survivors (impressive journalism from The Washington Post)
Forty-seven minutes after news broke of a high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., the posters on the anonymous chat board 8chan had devised a plan to bend the public narrative to their own designs: “Start looking for [Jewish] numerology and crisis actors.” The voices from this dark corner of the Internet quickly coalesced around a plan…
Thesis Critique Activity: Another Use of a Class-edited Google Doc
A few weeks ago, I had students in my upper-level media class collaborate on a Google Docs study guide for The Name of the Rose. In my freshman writing class yesterday, I did something else with Google Docs… I created a page with three columns, and asked students to type their preliminary thesis statements on…
CNN Profiles Former White House “Chief Calligrapher”
Today was the last day of the manuscript unit in my “History and Future of the Book” course. I wish I had come across this article a little sooner! “As calligraphers, we feel like we’re playing an integral role. The invitation sets the stage for the whole event. Calligraphers are helping, simply, to set the…
Affect (v. “to change”) vs. Effect (n. “the result”)
I ran into this problem several times in the last set of student papers, so it’s time for another illustration. When you’re talking about making a change, you mean the verb “affect,” and when you’re talking about something that results from a cause, you mean the noun “effect.” It’s rare to encounter “effect” as a…
If You Check the Source of an Inspirational Prayer You Shared on Social Media, You Might Be Embarrassed. Check the Source Anyway.
I needed this prayer yesterday. I checked the source today. Quote Investigator The frequent ascription to Mother Teresa stems from the misreading of a book about the famous Catholic charity worker called “A Simple Path” that was compiled by Lucinda Vardey and released in 1995. The page preceding the appendices was titled “ANYWAY”, and it…
Children struggle to hold pencils due to too much tech, doctors say
When I was in middle school, I developed a permanent red bump on my right middle finger, usually stained with the blue ink from a PaperMate erasable pen. Though I shifted to typing when I was in high school, I still wrote with a pen enough to turn that bump into a permanent feature on…
Carolyn had fun playing a street urchin this weekend in Stage Right’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.
Another fun show! Great job, cast and crew.
New handout: “The Shape of an Academic Paper”
I’ve given an in-class presentation on “The Shape of an Academic Paper” enough times that I’m ready to turn it into a stand-alone web page, which I’ll ask my students to read for homework, in order to save more class time for writing workshops. Musical friends, I’d welcome your feedback on point #5, “Think of…
Impact of One-size-fits-all Web Design
I don’t particularly miss the splash landing pages, rotating animated logos, and “click here” web design of the 1990s. But one of the great things about it was that people experimented, sometimes doing crazy things. Rob LoCascio, who in 1995 “came up with the technology for those chat windows that pop up on websites,” notes…