Kim Ash teaches the Newseum’s “Fighting Fake News” class. Whereas teachers once feared that teenagers would fall for everything they read online, now they’re concerned young people won’t believe anything they read. —Washington Post Similar:Joe Biden gives the media a desperately needed lesson about Donald TrumpPerhaps I should have been shocked at th…EssaysUPDATE: BREAKING: 'Star…
Is your academic essay a bit short? First, make sure that you have formatted your draft as required (usually professors ask you to double-space). Faking a longer paper won’t make your writing any more persuasive or intelligent or analytical or factual. It won’t help you to learn what your instructor wants you to learn. My…
Similar:My colleague Dr. Cusick bakes Irish soda bread every year to honor Saint Patrick's Day.AcademiaTARDIS from today's 3D printing class.AestheticsThe Fantasticks closes today at 2.PersonalLetter of Recommendation: Fanny PacksWhat other accessory ensures the safety …CultureWhere the press is free, and every man able to read, all is safe. —Thomas JeffersonEducationThey still need work but we…
When you’re a homeschool parent, you go with what works. Yes, Carolyn, you may have my plaid bed sheet. Finish reading this book on Scottish history and I’ll take more pictures. No, you may not wear your kilt to church. Similar:Fanciful Fun in Theatre Factory’s “The Fantasticks”A great review from Pittsburgh in the Ro…CultureHow the…
Carolyn: “Does no one have a kind word for my Scotland?” Similar:Spanish dance @laurelballettheater @westmorelandsymphony The NutcrackerDanceThe boy wins once again. #chessGamesSiblings gotta sib.PersonalThis winter I changed my weekday alarm tone to chirping birds. This winter I changed my weekday ala…AestheticsSmalltalk through masks is hard; I really was glad to see so many familiar upper…
Each element of the periodic table gets its own haiku. What a clever project — traditional haiku frequently celebrate nature. An interactive review of the periodic table — composed of 119 haiku The elements, in haiku Similar:Journalists prefer in-person interviews. Emailing questions to strangers and expecting the…An interview means a real-time give-and …EducationAmLit Rescue –…
Wife: “What did you do with your bedsheet?” Me: “Is that my missing belt?” Girl: “Kilt-y as charged.” Similar:Umberto Eco and his legacy in open-world gamesI read “The Name of the Rose” during the…BooksBooby Trap (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Three Episode 6) When LaForge gets absurd with a hologr…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year b…DesignA Merry Look at…
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Fascinating academic effort to find a pattern in apparently random conspiracy theories that regularly pop up in our infostreams during social crises. Experts usually dismiss them because they are so wild and unlikely, and have thus failed to notice their impact. Starbird’s insight was to map the digital connections between all this buzzing on Twitter…
I did in fact search YouTube for videos featuring corridors on the starship Enterprise. And I found this bizarrely satisfying video, featuring not just corridors, but also doors. (Whoosh! Whoosh!) I remember this — our first look at Captain Kirk in the 1979 “Star Trek the Motion Picture.” Similar:Sobering data; stunning visualization.This NYT story on…
Similar:The Great Works of SoftwareI realized that each one of these techno…AestheticsProgress.PersonalIn January 2000, I was blogging about dancing paperclips, the transience of literary judge… In January 2000, I was blogging abou…BooksStar Trek: "Wink Of An Eye"/"The Empath"Amusing, if cynical, reaction to some of…AmusingAnother square of #steampunk control panel eye candy. #blender3d #blender3dart #design #a…AestheticsI'm…
Student (shouldering backpack and heading for door): Why does MLA Style have to keep changing? Me (checks clock): Well… Similar:The Girl at rehearsal (where else?).PersonalIPads in the classroom: The right way to use them, demonstrated by a Swiss school.The devices are not really valued as por…CybercultureThe Distracted Classroom: Transparency, Autonomy, and PedagogyI don’t ban technology…
I posted a new handout with tips on surviving group projects in college. Employers value applicants who can work in groups. Most college students say they hate group work, but in the real world, few people work alone. Your assigned partner for a class project may be slow to respond because he or she is dealing…
Shad and co say bots play a particularly significant role in the spread of fake news soon after it is published. What’s more, these bots are programmed to direct their tweets at influential users. “Automated accounts are particularly active in the early spreading phases of viral claims, and tend to target influential users,” say Shao…
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After using examples from Warsaw and Prague, the 2007 edition of my journalism textbook predicts: The threat is no longer simply from government censorship. With new technology, government is more likely to subvert the press by trying to discredit its integrity and dilute its influence. It has more tools to do that in the twenty-first…
A good example of the power of satire. Trump used Tuesday night’s rally to denounce the “fake news” media for being mean, dishonest, bad, America-hating and an all-around pain in his keister. […] After spending 15 or so minutes complaining about the media, he said of the media: “For the most part, all they do…
The journalist chose to spotlight a little girl who’s both a Trump supporter and an aspiring journalist. This is how journalists can be creative — by choosing what details to focus on. “What happened in Charlottesville strikes at the core of America,” Trump said, appearing to read from the teleprompters placed on stage. “And tonight,…
A judge has ordered Montana Rep. Greg Gianforte to be photographed and fingerprinted for assaulting a reporter in May, opening the door for the congressman’s mug shot to be plastered in opponents’ campaign ads in next year’s election. […] The day after the assault, Gianforte defeated Democrat Rob Quist in the special election to replace Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke…
Prepping for tomorrow’s first meeting of my Shakespeare class. In 1598, during Shakespeare’s lifetime, England experienced a total solar eclipse, with the path of totality tracking from Cornwall in the southwest up to Aberdeen in Scotland. As we in the twenty-first century prepare for the Great American Eclipse on Aug 21, let’s look at three of the…