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

Text, Speech, Machine: Metaphors for Computer Code in the Law : Computational Culture

On my to-read list once I post midterm grades. As computer software has become increasingly central to commerce and creativity, lawmakers have retrofitted it into preexisting legal regimes to regulate its production and distribution. Currently in the United States, software is eligible for protection under patent law, copyright law, trade secret law and the First…

While searching my bag for a cable, I found an unexpected wealth of food-substitute items.

Similar:A few Dwarven Moments in Stage Right's Snow WhiteThe dwarf scenes were a real hoot. …DramaA #steampunk control panel in context. #blender3d #design #aesthetics #blender3dartAestheticsRichard Halloran / Owns Home Computer.“Engineers now predict the day will come…AmusingWhy Hoboken is Throwing Away All of its Student LaptopsUntrained teachers. Damage-prone machine…CybercultureStandardized testing: I opted my kids out. The…

Banned Books Week | Celebrating the Freedom to Read: Sept. 30 – Oct. 6, 2012

What, you haven’t honored your freedom by reading a banned book this week? Banned Books Week | Celebrating the Freedom to Read Similar:Key and Peele sportscenter teacher parody: New sketch imagines teachers as athletes (VIDEO…Oh, how I wish we lived in a world where…CultureDefend the Open Web: Keep DRM Out of W3C StandardsThe DRM proposals…

Angry 10yo Edits the Paper Heart She Gave Her Mother

Similar:Lighten Up (an illustrator explores the racial politics of skin color in comics)Lighten Up — The Nib — Medium.AestheticsExplaining Twerking to Your ParentsI still haven’t seen the video, but this…AmusingA warning to college profs from a high school teacherMy students did well on those questions …AcademiaFair use prevails as Supreme Court rejects Google Books copyright…

Yes, it’s happening here at Seton Hill. Quidditch.

  Similar:Carolyn and Nick in Beauty and the BeastAestheticsPost Gazette Corrects Headline of Seton Hill iPad FollowupEveryone makes mistakes. As a student jo…AcademiaOut of the Zuckersphere, (back) into the BlogosphereThis is why I still blog. While commerci…AcademiaThe Future of Academic Style: Why Citations Still Matter in the Age of GoogleLooking forward to getting my copy…

Journalism Warning Labels

Stick these on a copy of your future birdcage liner if you spot any of the many sins of journalism. Be on the lookout for bias, plagiarism, poor sourcing, and hype. Journalism Warning Labels « Tom Scott. Similar:Mariah Carey meets William Carlos Williams Amusing"I don't view Shakespeare's work as intimidating anymore." — midterm reflection from…

Kids Play the Way Scientists Work

Toddlers, multiple experiments have shown, can test hypotheses about how machines work—for example, they can figure out which blocks made a machine play when some but not all blocks trigger the toy. We have to be careful, though. This exploratory, quasi-scientific approach to the world doesn’t last if adults teach kids to do something else: Kids will let adult…

The Writing Revolution

When a failing high school tries to reinvent itself, it turns to writing — with amazing results. At my own high school, our science teacher was a retired nuclear submarine admiral who used to say, “Give me students who can read and write, and I can teach them to pilot a nuclear submarine.” So I’m…

KLINGON STYLE (Star Trek Parody of PSY – GANGNAM STYLE)

Silly fun, just in time for the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. via KLINGON STYLE (Star Trek Parody of PSY – GANGNAM STYLE) – YouTube. Similar:New utility chair and appliances from the service areas of my fantasy #steampunk #blender3…AestheticsMy "Writing About Literature" Students Are Sampling Text Adventure GamesI’m having my students play…

Winky Winky Drudge Report

The Drudge Report today features an amusing array of images — Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, and Russian President Vladimir Putin — all of them winking. Clearly the nonverbal message is that all these people — who are unpopular with the conservative populist base to which Matt Drudge caters — are working together. The…

Passing On a Torch

I recently introduced my kids to “The City on the Edge of Forever.” Here’s another dad, writing about introducing his kids to classic Star Trek. But they aren’t just younger versions of me; they pick up on stuff I didn’t at their age.  After a few episodes, The Girl asked “why don’t the girls get…