Valentines for Journalists. Similar:Why do journalists use "allegedly" when they report on obvious crimes captured on video?Look at this picture. A guy in a uniform…EthicsMedia Companies Are Getting Sick of FacebookAll of us with Facebook accounts do work…BusinessI Was Fired for Making Fun of Trump After 25 years as the editorial cartoo…CultureU.S. Press Freedom TrackerIt’s…
[O]n this chilly morning, as bus No. 92 rolls down a mountain highway just before dawn, high school students are quiet, typing on laptops. Morning routines have been like this since the fall, when school officials mounted a mobile Internet router to bus No. 92’s sheet-metal frame, enabling students to surf the Web. The students…
Walter Frederick Morrison, the man credited with inventing the Frisbee, has died at the age of 90. —Guardian Similar:My journalism students just gave me this wristband: "What would Jerz do? / Verify or duck…. AestheticsFrisbee is a brand name, but how newsworthy is that?What would you do? Today I wrote 192 …AcademiaMe Checking into My…
Interesting examination of role-playing, illusion, identity, and power in Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, one small branch of which was the inspiration for the 1976/7 computer game Colossal Cave Adventure. In the middle decades of the nineteenth century, Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave was a popular tourist destination for travelers from around the United States and beyond. The cave…
Zach Whalen is turning his dissertation into a blog-web-thing, in the hopes of developing a book-thing. In whatever form it takes, it’s an interesting approach to a textual study of video games. This study asks how the design and configuration of text in videogames contributes to their textuality. I argue that videogames are texts in…
There’s a dissertation in here. All I have the energy to do today is imply a connection. Using a police state to market technology in 1984: Using a police state to market technology in 2010: Similar:Boston Bombing Survivor Dances Onstage for First TimeTechnology and artistry combine in this …CultureToday's Google Doodle is Mostly HarmlessFord Prefect…
None of this is a surprise to me, but I’m glad to have statistics to back up my impressions. A very small handful of students whose first introduction to online social networking was the SHU blogosphere, before blogs went really mainstream around 2005, are still blogging here, after they have graduated. In 2003-2005 it was…
I didn’t watch the game, but I did catch the buzz about this ad. Yes, I did tear up. (Wired has details.) Similar:Apple Watch is ugly and boring (and Steve Jobs would have agreed)I am not feeling the love for Apple’s iW…AestheticsOriginal Mickey Mouse Character Enters Public Domain in 2024As a grad student in the…
It is dangerous to use local weather events (such as a heavy or light winter) to make judgments about global climate. With that caveat, I’m blogging the following because I’ve noted a shift in the online discussion about “global warming,” or the more general “climate change”. This essay does a good job exploring the events…
Coming up… we’ll tell you whether you’ll be impaled by sharp, radioactive icicles hurled by mobs of rampaging robots in your neighborhood. But first, people panicking, filling up three shopping carts of toilet paper and canned food. Hear the techno-pop pulse of our theme music, and know that you’re being conditioned to think of us…
Here’s hoping I left gas in the snow-thrower. Similar:Astronaut Luca Parmitano describes near-drowning experience in spaceWith water already obscuring his vision,…Current_EventsToday's workload included requesting a "less-depressing used chair" #lowexp…PersonalAuschwitz color photo: 'A 14-year-old girl, not just a statistic'I don’t know what this prisoner did, but…AestheticsWhen you hear your daughter the understudy is going on for…
Fascinating software study of the Doom iPhone port.http://fabiensanglard.net/doomIphone/index.php Similar:Sources tell Seton Hill University's Dennis Jerz that TV news websites emphasize self-prom…Sources tell Seton Hill University’s Den…BusinessKindle App Vs. iBooks. (Spoiler: They’re Virtually Identical Now!)I noticed with interest that Kindle now …AestheticsNo, this Jeopardy! contestant was not making a white supremacist hand gestureConspiracy theories, knee-jerk tribal…
Our first few readings in my freshman writing course were personal essays, with a clear narrative. We read an academic paper today, and there’s another assigned for Friday. A few students are already reporting feeling a little lost in the detail. I gather this is because they are used to reading textbooks, where all the…
I wish I’d seen this a few weeks ago, before my Video Game Culture and Theory class ended, but it’s still a welcome find. Similar:Researchers: Nearly Half Of Accounts Tweeting About Coronavirus Are Likely BotsResearchers identified more than 100 fal…Current_EventsToday's annoying adventures of adulting: fixing the bathroom ceiling fan.Not fun, but done. ModdingTwitter is testing…
Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman Similar:I'm happy with today's #steampunk control panel. To fill out the master plan I'm constrain…One of many steampunk control panels I’v…AestheticsLighting really makes a difference! A glimpse into the captain's ready room, off the offic… AestheticsIn-home schooling popularity slipping across stateWe were on our way out the door…
“One of the deepest questions in this field,” Nass says, “is whether media multitasking is driven by a desire for new information or by an avoidance of existing information. Are people in these settings multitasking because the other media are alluring–that is, they’re really dying to play Freecell or read Facebook or shop on eBay–or…
I know, I know: Amazon relied on those $9.99 prices to give it a head start in the digital books market. And raising prices to the $12.99 to $14.99 being talked about could certainly slow sales if consumers don’t bite. But here’s the thing: it’s not as if Macmillan is only raising prices for Kindle.…
I usually carry a digital voice recorder with me. In most states it’s legal to record a conversation if all parties consent, although Pennsylvania law requires that all parties to a conversation be notified that a conversation is being recorded. “It is always legal to tape or film a face-to-face interview when your recorder or…
For the one-credit journalism class that I teach every semester, I’m teaching a unit on editorial writing. Students will take a leisurely 10-chapter journey through Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace. It’s the first time I’ve taught a whole unit focusing on sentence-level phrasing. The class meets once a week, for just one hour,…
I’ve sometimes pointed out to my students that in my generation, graduating from high school and leaving your peers behind to go to college mostly meant that you were saying goodbye. Since then, I have gotten back in touch with a couple dozen high school friends, and even some elementary school friends (including the smartest…