Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C., recently introduced a grade called FD to deal with cheaters. The letters stand for failure with academic dishonesty. —Calgary Herald FD for cheaters? Why not FU? (Thanks for the suggestion, Josh.) Similar:Facebook shrinks fake news after warnings backfireIn its efforts to combat the spread of f…BusinessGoogle engineer put on…
Interesting pair of essays in The Chronicle Review. I may use this in my journalism class for a unit on statistics, advocacy, and the importance of open-minded skepticism in the reporting of the news. Christina Hoff Sommers, in her essay “Persistent Myths in Feminist Scholarship” (The Chronicle Review, online edition, June 29), criticized Nancy K.D.…
TV news emphasizes the immediate and the emotional. This screen shot shows how the NBC news affiliate in Miami allows readers to rate stories by emotions. Notice that this mechanism does not reward stories for being fair, informative, accurate, or even newsworthy. I stumbled across this feature while reading a story about the 11-year-old reporter…
Teale Fristoe reviews The Great Flu. In the game, the player acts as the head of the World Pandemic Control during the outbreak of an unknown flu. As the game progresses, the player must take actions, such as dispatching research teams, dispensing medication and face masks, and closing schools and airports, in an attempt to…
If you want to perform a proper string quartet, they noted, you can’t cut out the cellist nor can you squeeze in more performances by playing the music faster. But that was then — before MP3s and iPods proved just how freely music could flow. Before Google scanned and digitized 7 million books and Wikipedia…
I just noticed that Jason Scott has redesigned the home page for his film website. Good things are worth the wait. I’m content to wait. Similar:Choose wisely… you have the power to turn this wrap into a sandwich or a candy bar… or…AestheticsAdvent of Digital Humanities Will Make English Departments Pointless — New RepublicDon’t overreact…
One reason why I continue to resist putting much effort into Facebook and Twitter is that, when I do so, my work disappears into someone else’s database. If someone else decides to start charging me to view my own archives, or the links other people create to my content, then the visibility of my work…
I was on the road (and away from a computer) for the past few days, on a little family outing. My wife brought along a copy of Choose-Your-Own-Adventure #4 that she picked up cheap at a library sale. The cover of this book, originally published in 1979, features a big-jawed space hero in a suit…
[The] story is told of a music critic who was sent to a concert hall in Chicago to review a performance. When he found the hall burning down, he went home and went to bed. In the morning he explained, “There was no story. The concert hall burned down.” I trust these stories are apocryphal,…
Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables — nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours — and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is…
Here’s how Ebert ended a review he wrote yesterday: It’s said that Richard Harding Davis was dispatched by William Randolph Hearst to cover the Johnstown flood. Here was his lead: “God stood on a mountaintop here and looked at what his waters had wrought.” Hearst cabled back: “Forget flood. Interview God.” A wonderful story. Checking out the quote online,…
Good luck with that, Rupert. “We intend to charge for all our news websites,” Mr Murdoch said. “If we’re successful, we’ll be followed by all media,” he added, predicting “significant revenues” from charging for differentiated news online. I think it probably makes sense to charge a bit in order to get unique content early, before…
My latest Blender 3D experiment. Similar:Christopher Robin made for a pleasant family outing.PersonalIs AI making us less intelligent?This morning, after students submitted a…CybercultureChess robot grabs and breaks finger of seven-year-old opponent Last week, according to Russian media …CybercultureMy colleague Dr. Cusick bakes Irish soda bread every year to honor Saint Patrick's Day.AcademiaParable of the Polygons…
I’m all for training students in fact-gathering, clear writing, and getting a sense of the outside world. But I’m wondering if the time-honored student newspaper is still the best way to do that. Has your campus found a more contemporary way to get students the benefits that newspapers used to offer? Maybe a way that…
Political message? You decide. Blip from Sean Mullen on Vimeo. Similar:Iffy "Cloak of Darkness" on Inform7/Parchment”Iffy Cloak of Darkness” is based on the…CyberculturePracticing with materials and geometry. The lamps and chair require hundreds of times as m… AestheticsI don't usually post animal videos on my blog… But when I do, it’s because they are…AmusingDesert Bus:…
Imagine if all teaching happened like this… if all persuasion came from demonstrations like this. World Science Festival 2009: Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival. I’ve watched it three more times since blogging it, and it still makes me smile. Similar:Folger Shakespeare Library on "The Fate of Ophelia"On…
Within five years: (1) Many online journals and magazines now only publishing traditional text-based fiction and poetry will, as part of their online offerings, publish digital literature on a regular basis; (2) Most major universities and many colleges (if they don’t already) will offer courses in New Media, and those courses will cover/include digital literature;…
Colbert’s tag line brought tears to my eyes. (Thanks for the suggestion, Kerry!) The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Nailed ‘Em – Library Crime www.colbertnation.com Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Tasers Similar:Dan Rather reflects critically on the so-called "Heroic Age" of TV newsCBS’s Dan Rather infamously dismissed bl…CultureHow Are Websites Made?This…
The Associate Press has for some time claimed that people should pay for reprinting the title of an AP article and linking to the full text. I stopped quoting from AP stories when the AP claimed bloggers needed a license to quote more than 5 words from an AP story. (Keep both of these things…
The cause of the decline in handwriting may lie not so much in computers as in standardized testing. The Federal Government’s landmark 1983 report A Nation at Risk, on the dismal state of public education, ushered in a new era of standardized assessment that has intensified since the passage in 2002 of the No Child Left Behind Act. “In schools today,…