An English professor tries to help ChatGPT write and revise a sonnet
Shortly after my online AmLit survey began, I received two obviously AI-generated submissions. The responses did not address the prompt, there was no textual annotation and brainstorming assignment that was supposed to lead up to the written response, and the student did not take me up on my offer to meet to discuss how the…
ChatBot Helps Crack the Case of the Missing 45GB
The other day I got a last-minute request to video a show. I usually like to watch a dress rehearsal first, which gives me the chance to check out my equipment and get a sense of where the important action will take place. But yesterday I had to go in cold, and I felt a…
The internet’s memory is fading in front of us. Preserve what you can.
Long, self-indulgent essays from a writer I idolized, a gorgeous online portfolio of photos taken by a photographer in Japan, a repository of old State Department language learning resources, all gone. Link rot is real, folks, and with it comes a slow, steady sloughing off things on the internet we once loved — or still love,…
Fancy a game of whist with your nemesis? The prospect of ruin adds piquancy to the pleasure. #indiefilm
Had a blast watching all the amazing entries in Pittsburgh's 48 Hour Film Festival, but I do have a favorite!
Students must learn how to get things wrong. Only one subject does that. [English.]
I invest a lot of energy asking my college students to unlearn the pattern of summary and personal reflection that was enough to to earn a good grade in high school. I emphasize repeatedly that their high school teachers didn’t do anything wrong by teaching them what they needed to do in order to get…
In October, 2002, I was blogging about stupid space explosions, the superiority complex, why whitespace matters, usability testing, and Krispy Kreme
In October, 2002, I was blogging about The stupidity of explosions in space movies The Chronicle of Higher Education rescues the briefly defunct Arts & Letters Daily The superiority complex An anti-telemarketing script An “I Love Lucy: bible study Why whitespace matters when creating a sign The coming air age of 1955 (as envisioned in…
Weird History offers a good debunking of this persistent myth.
My mother has taught me so much. I'm delighted I get to sit in her living room and teach her how to text.
The AI revolution is powered by these contractors making $15 an hour
Students who cheat with ChatGPT can look forward to these $15/hr jobs training the AI that they relied upon to get them their degrees. The students who actually did the work themselves should be much be better prepared to demonstrate how their work differs from the mediocre stream of bot-produced content. Savreux is part of…
Spring 2023 Grades: Submitted! (I only had 3 last-minute submissions to mark today.)
Headlines matter. Were they migrants, people who happened to be at a migrant center, pedestrians, or manslaughter victims?
Do the headlines encourage empathy, or do they “other” the victims of crime? (Click to zoom in.)
RIP Metaverse, we hardly knew ye
I am curious enough about cockatoos that I might click a link to read an article about people who own a cockatoos. I feel the same about British royalty, or “van life,” or VR. Other than remembering a cool exhibit that stacked up various NASA and other historical rockets so you could see the scale,…
Star Trek TOS Main Theme but it never gets to the Main Theme
Arrgh! This is sooo stressful! (Some great visual gags as the intro drags on.) No, it is not worth it to watch the whole thing. But that’s the point.
I've got a lot to learn, but my #blender3D #neovictorian #steampunk cruiser, and this nifty winged support craft, look great in the Unity Gaming Engine. I aim to get that "United States of Britannia" flag flapping in the ether currents soon. #design #blender3dart #aesthetics #unity3d
Today’s unexpected but welcome moments of grace
She waived a fee. He accepted a slightly expired coupon. Someone bent a rule in my favor. (I may or may not have deserved it.) I bent rules for five different people. (They may or may not have deserved it.) That 1/4 inch post that was too big popped off and under it was a…
They grew up in a mostly analog/paper world and squirmed with joy the first time they clicked a hyperlink that they created
Today’s students have many strengths. They are great at collaboration, introspection, and remixing. While my students are very familiar with phone apps, even the English majors who want to be professional writers are not very familiar with the conventions of writing for the World Wide Web. Because their sense of “being online” mostly entails interacting…
Requiem for the Newsroom
When I worked at a radio news station in the late 80s, when I was about 20, I would often saunter into the newsroom a half hour before my shift started, so that I could sit down with a sandwich and a bottle of apple juice, and page through the newsroom’s copies of The Washington…
