Historian Niall Ferguson notes that Silicon Valley is not that interested in history, which is one reason why technological gurus keep making the same mistakes. Technology that decentralizes power brings its own problems. According to Ferguson: “The idea that witches live amongst us and should be burned went as viral as anything that Martin Luther…
In 2012, Apple tried to position iPads as replacing textbooks. Last year, Microsoft tried to position laptops as replacing Chromebooks. Now, Apple needs to hook educators on the power of future-looking tech such as coding and augmented reality.
The Cambridge Analytica scandal is drawing attention to malicious data thieves and brokers. But every Facebook app—even the dumb, innocent ones—collected users’ personal data without even trying.
Instagram dialed in early to the power of building community through visual communication. From the start, Instagram was a mobile app that revolved around snapshots, not snippets of text. This visualization of social media was propelled by young people who, bombarded by text messages, status updates and blog posts, gravitated to a simpler, faster and more expressive medium…
Misspelled tweets and typos in press releases are becoming the norm under President Trump, but critics say it points to a pervasive carelessness in the White House.
I still miss Notepad++, a Windows tool on which I coded many an Inform 6 puzzle. When Seton Hill started handing out iPads and MacBooks, I switched to MacOS. I really don’t miss Windows at all, but I did miss my Notepad++ text editor. TextWrangler was a decent substitute, though over the years I have…
Wired, obviously having worked on a thinkpiece about Zuckerberg’s silence, manages to repurpose it in light of this afternoon’s statement. The Irreversible Damage of Mark Zuckerberg’s SilenceWhat has happened in the last five days has been the biggest crisis of Facebook’s existence. But Zuckerberg’s five-day silent treatment may prove more damning for Facebook than any…
Facebook does not care what Hobbit you are, whether your name is on the list of people who deserve a nap, which side of the controversy your temporary profile supports, or whether the news you shared is fake. Or, to be more precise, Facebook cares only to the extent that it can control our behavior,…
This is a welcome step, but we cannot trust big corporations to solve the fake news problem for us. (Slow down and think before you share that infuriating or inspiring detail you see in your feed.) In a move to combat the epidemic of false and unreliable information on the internet, Google is pledging to…
This NYT story on the effects of race on the economic future of American citizens offers chilling findings. Come for the data visualization; stay for the thoughtful analysis. Another example of why journalism matters. Black boys raised in America, even in the wealthiest families and living in some of the most well-to-do neighborhoods, still earn…
Similar:Midterm Grades Spring 2025: Posted!I planned ahead pretty well this term. I…AcademiaBackstage opening night.Personal#Blender3D practice: #Steampunk control panel #trimsheethttps://youtu.be/4j7qAzaDg3w …AestheticsI had already created the little utility craft on the lower left, but this weekend I expan…PersonalA serious summer activity.Once classes start again, we will all ha…CultureThe barbican at Mickelgate was pulled down in the…
Similar:How Not to Be a Jackass at Your Next Academic ConferenceOkay, I confess, I was once in the audie…AcademiaGoodby big Android… hello little budget iPhone SE 3rd.I just removed from my syllabus template…AcademiaI pulled out a shelf on my teaching station and was greeted by this lovingly arrayed arsen…PersonalThey're coming in faster than I can…
Similar:Chipping away at the total as the final submissions pour in.PersonalLast day filming for “The First Night of Summer”PersonalThe Drowsy Chaperone @setonhilluniversityPersonalThe Penance of Eleanor, Duchess of Gloucester, by Edwin Austin Abbey.This painting was inspired by the scene …AestheticsI’ve finally started to create female uniforms for the #neovictorian fantasy #steampunk æt…PersonalAmenities are limited on a…
Already met a lot of good people and found opportunities for following up. I’m here through Saturday morning. For now, though, I’m eating a sandwich. Similar:A Better Way to Say Sorry I’m sorry for… This is wrong beca…CultureEducation: Teaching teachers how to teach readingI’m definitely seeing students in my fre…BooksLighting really makes a difference! A…
Putting speaker notes on an iPad is always more fun when using a typeface that invokes TNG Okudagrams. Similar:How My Mom Killed Facebook Lest you think this is just a compli…CybercultureNutcracker dress rehearsal montage. Carolyn plays the Dew Drop Fairy Saturday at 7.PersonalI Made a Cheerful Maze Game in Scratch Well, it’s cheerful unle…CybercultureBing's AI…
My wife says she bought the pies intending to use them for a math lesson, but she just ended up letting the kids start eating them. Similar:The other day I did a socialize with some of my Humanities colleagues. (I am proud of myse…PersonalThere's No Substitute for FictionWhat do Peskin and Astington recommend f…BooksIn Defense…
Similar:So, What's in It for Me?All in all, I enjoy my job very much, an…AcademiaSherlock Holmes and The Woman (daughter and I rehearsing for a live recording Friday after…CultureWhat if I design a #steampunk fantasy cruiser and there aren’t enough chairs? How do I kno… Aesthetics"It's called an amphora," the artist says.AestheticsAfter my conference talk,…
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…
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 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…