Facebook Puts a Downer on Upworthy

Facebook Inc. changed its newsfeed algorithm. You’ll never believe what happened to Upworthy’s traffic next. —Bloomberg. Similar:My Journalism Students Covering Flight 93 Memorial CeremonyFour reporters from the Setonian (Seton …AcademiaIs AI making us less intelligent?This morning, after students submitted a…CybercultureWhy I Still BlogI particularly value blogging because of…AcademiaBlewsMicrosoft researchers discuss Blews, whi…CybercultureThe Pointlessness of UnpluggingWhat…

Beyond Usability and Design: The Narrative Web

We see narrative everywhere. It’s a primitive urge, a way to tie cause to effect, to convert the complexity of our experience to a story that makes sense. We want to see narrative everywhere. Stories are fun, exciting, comforting. This isn’t just a matter of bedtime stories and art. The saga of the Great Browser War, the…

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

My Anti-Linkbait Pledge: Cynical Overhyping vs. Simply Being Online

When I find something interesting that an online friend has shared via a linkbait site, I hereby pledge that I will link to the origin of the story, rather than a third-party site that republishes it without commentary. The people who share and like and respond to Upworthy and similar linkbait websites are just responding…

Feature: History Lesson: the treasured past of LucasArts point and clicks

I played more of the Sierra point-and-click adventures than the LucasArts ones, but “The Dig” and “Full Throttle” were probably as important to me as half a dozen of my once-favorite TV shows or movies. (I’ve revisited these games by watching YouTube longplay videos.) There’s a fondness throughout the catalogue for the catalogue. Monkey Island…

The Formation of Love

Relationships start with a period of courtship: on Facebook, messages are exchanged, profiles are visited, posts are shared on each other’s timelines. The following graph shows the average number of timeline posts exchanged between two people who are about to become a couple. We studied the group of people who changed their status from “Single”…

Valentine’s Day Sensitivity

Me: Yes, that sound was me choking up while running The Secret Garden lines with Carolyn. Wife: (Laughs.) Me: So, you married a sensitive man. Now shut up. Wife: You should blog that. Similar:George Joseph Jerz (1933-2023)George Joseph Jerz, born on September 3r…EmpathyNew Renaissance Theatre Company's The Merry Wives of Windsor (in rep with The…

Shirley Temple Black, Screen Darling, Dies at 85

Shirley Temple Black, who as a dimpled, precocious and determined little girl in the 1930s sang and tap-danced her way to a height of Hollywood stardom and worldwide fame that no other child has reached, died on Monday night at her home in Woodside, Calif. She was 85. — NYTimes.com. Similar:Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance, lost…

The Trouble with Tribbles: A Television Adaptation by Richard Gorey

Shaenon K. Garrity – New Smithson!. Similar:The Search, Part 2 (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 3, Episode 2) The Federation makes a ri… Rewatching ST:DS9 After the recap…MediaMy crazy Friday night involved tweaking the graphic for an #MLAstyle instructional web pag…AcademiaHenry Bemis waited his whole life to finally read a book. Listen to Lynn Venable’s story,…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xc3DHCiz…BooksIn…