While the Bible does present Jesus as being able to read, and there is a story of Jesus drawing something unspecified in the dirt, the first followers of Jesus lived in an oral culture. The Gospel of Luke begins thus, identifying to the difference between oral culture and print culture: Since many have undertaken to…
“Worldwide, there is increasing recognition of a digital divide, a troubling gap between groups that use information and communication technologies widely and those that do not,” the team explains. “The digital divide refers not only to unequal access to computing resources between groups of people but also to inequalities in their ability to use information…
It seems to me that they’re simply asking everybody to use external aggregators as a replacement for the nytimes.com homepage as the best tool for reading the site. Even people using the NYT’s own RSS feeds to find the stories they want to read might well be able to consume an unlimited amount of online…
Over the past two decades, the way we learn has changed dramatically. We have new sources of information and new ways to exchange and to interact with information. But our schools and the way we teach have remained largely the same for years, even centuries. What happens to traditional educational institutions when learning also takes…
Diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum, author and cyberthinker Howard Rheingold responds with humor, and a new blog. http://howardsbutt.tumblr.com Similar:I'm just getting around to watching this speech from Arnold Schwarzenegger. Impressive!I really never paid much attention to Sc…AestheticsScaring People Can Make Them Healthier, But It Isn't Always The Way To GoAs my freshman…
Amazon.com unexpectedly announced the Kindle Development Kit Thursday morning, which will allow developers to develop “active content” for the Kindle platform, to take advantage of the e-reader’s electronic ink display, Whispernet 3G technology, and days-long battery life.–PC Mag Somebody, please create a Z-code interpreter. I want my Kindle to guide me through a maze of…
It might be time to crowdsource this ritual, lest Poe be toasted nevermore. Every year since 1949, the stranger – known locally as the Poe Toaster – has left three roses and a half-bottle of cognac on Poe’s grave in Baltimore on his birthday. The roses are believed to represent the three bodies buried beneath…
A little context… a popular internet meme involves adding creative subtitles to a movie in which Hitler reacts to some very bad news. Here we see the evil dictator responding to some recent developments in academia. Similar:PHD Comics: It's in the syllabus PHD Comics: It’s in the syllab…AcademiaWhat have my students learned about creative nonfiction…
On the Internet, news articles get to the point. Newspaper writing, by contrast, is encrusted with conventions that don’t add to your understanding of the news. Newspaper writers are not to blame. These conventions are traditional, even mandatory. Take, for example, the lead story in The New York Times on Sunday, November 8, 2009, headlined…
I have watched none of the TV coverage of the Haiti earth quakes. That’s not to say I haven’t been following the story — I just prefer to get my news online. So I’m blogged this story which discusses what appears to be a trend in TV coverage. The aftermath of the Haitian earthquake is…
Great collection of essays that capture the wonder of now-ubiquitous technology that was once strange. Oliver Wendell Holmes on photography in 1859, Mark Twain on telephones in 1880, Philip G. Hubert Jr. on the phonograph in 1889, up to James Fallows on the personal computer in 1982. These eight excerpts show the attempts of writers,…
The number of crayons in a Crayola box doubles every 28 years. What colors have been in said box over the years? See the full-size version at weathersealed.com Similar:Shutting the Door on the Hard-Knock LifeIn sync with the resurgence of labor act…BusinessImpact of One-size-fits-all Web DesignI don’t particularly miss the splash lan…BusinessPeter vs. the PenguinsFor…
I’m getting ready to teach a one-credit journalism course on editorial writing, which will also be a test case for a potential “topics in advanced composition” course. This essay looks like a good way to start the class. The good nouns are the thousands of short, simple, infinitely old Anglo-Saxon nouns that express the fundamentals…
Two Seton Hill sources are mentioned in this local story. Millennials appreciate professors who bring technology into the classroom, whether it’s YouTube, PowerPoint or posting grades online after assignments, said Theresa Conley, 27, a junior at Seton Hill University in Greensburg. “That way, you can see where you’re at and what you’re getting, so you’re…
I will miss it, but honestly, I do not see myself likely to start paying for this news source. Were I a media professional living and working in New York, I might have a different opinion. I’ll check out a copy in the library if I hear of something that’s a must-read. The argument for…
One of the great parts about this job is stumbling upon nuggets of discussion not often talked about on other gaming sites. One such cornucopia of information is the various colleges that teach classes on videogames and the blogs posted by students and professors in reference to those classes. I’ve pointed out a few in the…
What are the capabilities of MIT’s Scratch, a kid-friendly programming tool? In about 30 minutes, I create a working ball-and-paddle game. The last two videos show some further tweaking for another 15 minutes. I presented these videos to my students in the context of a unit on games and education. HTML5 HTML5 480p FLV360p FLV360p…
Wisdom to keep in mind as I plan for this semester’s “History and Future of the Book.” FAIL Blog. Similar:A Pox On Your Listicle ClickbaitYup, seeing “1 of 21” at the top of your…BusinessIn January 2000, I was blogging about dancing paperclips, the transience of literary judge… In January 2000, I was blogging abou…BooksTime’s…
Violent video games have triggered substantial controversy due to highly publicized incidents of youth violence that have been allegedly inspired by the content of such games. Several jurisdictions have passed legislation penalizing the distribution of violent video games to minors and used psychological research to support the justification for such laws. However, courts have consistently…
I am far less interested in turning my students into good bloggers, or good podcasters, or good YouTubers, and far more interested in helping them develop the big-picture synthesizing and evaluative skills that will enable them to learn whatever comes along next, and to keep learning whatever comes next. Of course, I also ask students…