This sort of thing makes me very unhappy… without my permission, Microsoft pushes out an add-on for a competitor’s product. The service pack for the .NET Framework, like other updates, was pushed out to users through the Windows Update Web site. A number of readers had never heard of this platform before Windows Update started…
Nearly a century after she was rescued from the decks of the sinking Titanic, the last remaining survivor of the disaster has died, aged 97. Elizabeth Gladys Dean, known as Millvina, died today at the nursing home near Southampton where her care had been subsidised by Leonardo Di Caprio and Kate Winslet — stars of…
I’ve used Google Docs for some time; most of my recent conference proposals have been drafted there. Because there is an excellent open-source (free) alternatives to Microsoft Office (OpenOffice.org), I’m not all that convinced that cloud computing is the answer. I’m not comfortable with the idea that, if my internet connection hiccups, or Google goes…
One of my first dates with my wife was interrupted when I got a piece of beef stuck in my throat. I could breathe, but not swallow. When the paramedics arrived, I asked them to wait in the lobby while I walked out to my date, handed her my keys, and explained that I was…
Soon after, Mario entered into the Mushroom Kingdom and proceeded to steal from their banks and museums with his brother Luigi in Super Mario Thieves. Throughout the game he is chased by Bowser, chief of police at the M.K.P.D. (Mushroom Kingdom Police department) and the Goomba’s and Koopa Troppers in blue. […] Bowser’s chase of…
Even as the use of electronic media has become common across fields for research and teaching, what is taken for granted among young scholars is still foreign to many of those who sit on tenure and promotion committees. In an effort to confront this problem, the MLA and a consortium called the Humanities, Arts, Science…
The current summer 100 Days project gathers a group of story writers, poets, visual artists, musicians, and programmers for one hundred days of creative effort. Each artist’s work will be unique yet build on the work of others in the collective. Here we make, remake, shape and reshape. Steve Ersinghaus :: Story Carianne Garside ::…
Photopia unceremoniously dumped the idea of a ‘puzzle-based’ narrative in favour of what it called a ‘story-based’ narrative, a linear progression (linear in terms of interactivity, not time) from beginning to end that throws seemingly random fragments of a story at the player, which slowly start to weave into one another and create a cohesive…
I teach journalism at a very small school, where staff members are also likely to be involved in the student activities on which the paper is supposed to report. I’m keeping my eye out for real-world conflicts of interest, so that my student-journalists can be informed when they make their own ethical decisions. The union…
If you’re a fan of lifehacking, you’ll already be familiar with some of these issues. I’m blogging this because it’s a good example of doing justice to an opposing view, giving a good presentation of the strongest objections to multitasking. If the pundits clogging my RSS reader can be trusted (the ones I check up…
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This article does a good job reminding us how the world of media has changed in the past few decades. The metaphors we use to think about changes in media have a lot to tell us about the particular moment we’re in. McLuhan talked about media as an extension of our central nervous system, and…
New media researcher and capital-letter-avoider dana boyd recently answered questions about teens and their use of social media. These folks will be in college soon, so it makes sense for us to learn about their media habits. @mirroredpool: What borders to teens place of social networking sites and education? How would they react to using…
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I recently submitted a conference proposal on cloud computing. Google said in a blog post the outage came down to a simple traffic jam at an Asian data center. The search giant described the situation by using the analogy of a large number of airplanes being rerouted through one airport that was not equipped for…
Clever piece on a games-themed theater performance in Brooklyn next month. One of the more unusual plays in this year’s Antidepressant Festival is Adventure Quest, which mimics old-school computer adventure games, combining live action with vintage graphics and 8-bit music. For those too young to remember these strange, puzzle-intensive artifacts of the Reagan era, the…
Okay, I’m officially lame. I teared up a few days ago during Star Trek, and tonight I teared up during this song from The Magic Treehouse: The Musical, based on a series of easy-reader books by Mary Pope Osbourne. The touring show was in my town tonight; we had front-row seats. The song is a…
The following search on our campus — for a published mystery author qualified to teach creative writing — has been extended, and will continue until filled. Candidates interested in this position should apply immediately, as we will be considering applicants over the summer. — Mike Arnzen Similar:Who cares about hyphens, commas and capital letters? You…
A budding artist learns his real skill is not artistry, but the ability to critique. I’m blogging this for the next time I introduce iteration as an important cognitive skill — something that requires dedication, time, and a willingness to take risks in order to learn from failures (something that doesn’t often fit will with…