Computers and Writing Conference 2013

Where a nerd can be a nerd. (Thanks for sharing the photo, Jill Morris.) Similar:A New Talent EmergesI tried hard to frown disapprovingly whe…HomeSources tell Seton Hill University's Dennis Jerz that TV news websites emphasize self-prom…Sources tell Seton Hill University’s Den…BusinessWhat my classroom looks like during today's video journalism workshopWithin 3 minutes of being placed…

Does Math Exist?

Millions of high-school students might wish math did not exist, but, alas, it does, at least as a human creation. The question, however, of whether math exists independent of humans is a much deeper one, and PBS’s Mike Rugnetta gives a fun, brief overview of the age-old philosophical debate in the video above. via Does…

LGN Launches Quandary to Develop Ethical Thinking through Play

The Learning Games Network, a non-profit spin-off of the MIT Education Arcade and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Games+Learning+Society Program, today launched Quandary, a unique game that encourages players to think ethically as they lead a human colony struggling for survival on fictional planet Braxos. The game’s goal is to provide an engaging experience for players aged 8-14…

Press X to Teach

Ready to mash up gaming and teaching at Computers and Writing 2013. Press X to Teach. Similar:NASA Just Found a Lost SpacecraftIf movies about space have taught us any…Current_EventsHow not to attract women to coding: Make tech pinkJust watched videos of the musicals “Tho…AcademiaMonsters are People Too Study used D & D characters to…AcademiaBanned Books…

Jerz Family Tin Can Robot Wars

Similar:Peak Performance (ST:TNG Rewatch, Season Two, Episode 21) Riker and his misfit pals challe…Rewatching ST:TNG after a 20-year break….AmusingFULL BLOOM (Aug 31-Sep 2)PersonalYou can be a Trek fan without loving TOS. But if we think tolerance and empathy are good t…I was born in 1968 and grew up with reru…CultureWhen she's grown and flown, I…

The Milestones That Matter Most

[W]hen Japanese and American fourth and fifth grade children were asked why they shouldn’t hit, gossip or fight with other kids, 92 percent of the American kids answered “because they’d get caught or get in trouble.” Ninety percent of the Japanese kids asked the same question responded, “because it would be hurtful to someone else.”…

Kairos: Open Since 1996

As a plucky new faculty member I wrote a critique of an early design for the online journal Kairos. My article was snarky in form (I invoked Mystery Science Theater 3000) but serious in intent (“The overdesigned Kairos site perpetuates the myth that online rhetoric is necessarily complex and arcane,” with the earnest bold text in the original). They hypertext…

DC Just Announced Plans For Choose Your Own Adventure Style Digital Comics

It’s rather hard to believe it took them so long. DC Just Announced Plans For Choose Your Own Adventure Style Digital Comics. Similar:AI researchers find AI models learning their safety techniques, actively resisting trainin…Researchers had programmed the various l…CybercultureJoyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s cata…Looks like the…

Why You Should Blog to Get Your Next Job

It’s your resume, only better: Everyone has a resume. But a blog allows you to highlight the skills on your resume, times ten. For example, if you’re a writer, you can flex your writing muscles and post examples of your creative writing. Even if you’re a tax accountant, you can write your thought-provoking opinions on…

I Canna Give Ye Any More Screens, Cap’n!

The iPad Mini and the ChromeBook are just loaners, but it was fun to arrange them this way. Similar:Annie Sullivan on teaching:  Helen Keller, rendered blind and dea…CultureSuch deep roots you have: How Little Red Riding Hood's tale evolvedDid all these stories spring from a comm…HomeMaybe Star Wars 7 won't suck, but I'm not holding…

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

Texty Cloak of Darkness in Prose

Below is a snippet from “Texty Cloak of Darkness,” which aims to use prose conventions to emulate game-state changes and alternate endings (in a medium designed to be linear). Since our encounter, such as it is, has already begun, it may as well happen in a place. The foyer of the opera house is where…