The Secret Life of Machines – Word Processor part 2

Beautiful, beautiful 1980s introduction to “sophisticated word-processor” technology. Similar:My journalism students just gave me this wristband: "What would Jerz do? / Verify or duck…. AestheticsIn September, 2002, I was blogging about science writing, satire, ebonics, Google News, ow…In September, 2002, I was blogging about…CybercultureRossum's Universal Robots (Act 2)https://youtu.be/XfOONrGsf2I For my b…CultureToiletries for a steampunk villain…

good lord…..I finally see the light.

My student Dani Choynowski, a double-major in new media journalism and theatre, is a very busy woman. She’s getting top-notch grades in two challenging majors, her hand is usually the first one up during workshops or discussions, and she’s always ready with some connection to the world of theater or Harry Potter. Last semester, as…

Benjamin Ajak and Judy Bernstein

I just attended an inspiring talk by Benjamin Ajak (one of the Sudanese “Lost Boys”) and Judy Bernstein, who collaborated with Alephonsion Deng and Benson Deng to write They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky, which was SHU’s summer reading book. “Education is the power of the world.” “When I tell my story,…

At NYU, the Only Blogger In Her Generation Y Class Vents

A journalism student at NYU published a Generation Y-ney piece on PBS’s MediaShift. The first thing I notice when I walk into the class is that there are 14 girls and two boys. Already NYU is dominated by females, but the journalism department is exceptionally estrogen-infested. Professor Quigley begins by explaining how blogs are becoming…

Born Digital – Understanding the first generation of digital natives

I turned into a bobble-head doll, nodding, nodding, nodding, while reading this excerpt. I’ve already requested it for the library. We are at a crossroads. There are two possible paths before us–one in which we destroy what is great about the Internet and about how young people use it, and one in which we make…

Kids spread cheating methods on YouTube

‘Hi YouTube, it’s me, Kiki,” the teenager said to the camera as she swiveled in her chair to jazzy background music. ”And today I’m going to show you how to cheat on a test – the effective way.” She demonstrates her technique, slipping a small piece of paper with the answers in a clear-tubed pen…

Interactive Fiction Competition 2008

>get games Similar:Boston bombings: Social media spirals out of controlA thoughtful analysis. Problem-solver…CultureThat "Top 5" countdown listicle stuffs 5 pages of runners-up between #2 and #1.Relaxing in bed on the first Sunday morn…BusinessWithout ComPUNction: Doing verbal battle at the O. Henry Pun-Off World Championships. “It doesn’t have to be good. It just ha…AestheticsThe Comic Sans…

Courthouse News Service

Via Crooked Timber and BoingBoing: Thomson Reuters demands $10 million and an injunction to stop George Mason University from distributing its new Web browser application, Zotero software, an open-source format that allows users to convert Reuters’ EndNote Software. Reuters claims George Mason is violating its license agreement and destroying the EndNote customer base. (Courthouse News)…

I Hate Bucky Dent

Every door on every floor is closed, whether or not students are present. This seems so different from my days as a student, when you always left your door open if you were in, I suppose to signal your willingness to talk and to avoid homework if you could just find the smallest pretext to…

Neologism: "Blender Blog"

When I first introduced my Seton Hill students to blogging in 2003, before Facebook had mainstreamed social networking into a neatly wrapped package, my students posted a mixture of personal and academic material. Now that even my committed bloggers do most of their social networking elsewhere, I have started pitching the academic blogs as a…

How To Put Out Kitchen Oil Fire

Blogging this to show to my kids later. Similar:Blessing the “American sweet gum tree” that grew from a seed that Artemis I carried around…AwesomePlans for the Little Known Confederate HelicopterThe possibilities of combining Civil War…DesignJournalists should not amplify the ableist biases of untrained sourcesBeing a cop, lawyer, patriot, protestor,…CultureTime lapse movie shows exoplanets orbiting star…

Paleo-Future: robots

This is from the robots category of Paleo-Future, which also has categories devoted to picturephones, jetpacks, and each decade’s collected futurism (that is, see what our future looked like to people writing in the 1880s, the 1930s, or the 1980s). Try as it might the robot could not make its desired turn. Its little broken wheel…

Teens, Video Games and Civics

Pew Internet: Game playing is universal, with almost all teens playing games and at least half playing games on a given day. Game playing experiences are diverse, with the most popular games falling into the racing, puzzle, sports, action and adventure categories. Game playing is also social, with most teens playing games with others at…

Jack Thompson Disbarred

Kotaku reports: Is it finally game over for Florida lawyer and violent video game opponent Jack Thompson? Judgment has been entered in the case that started last year and came to a head when Judge Dava Tunis recommended permanent disbarment for the bombastic, showboating law man. The court has approved the report and has ordered…

In Tough Economic Times, Video Games Console

During the Great Depression, Americans flocked to the movies to escape the harsh realities of their daily lives. As the stock market tumbled and loved ones went off to war, Americans disappeared into dark theaters, where Shirley Temple sang and tap danced her way into their heavy hearts. Now, as the nation faces arguably the…

Daily deadlines won't wait for high-tech learning curve

Students in my “Media Projects” class are getting practice learning complex, new systems quickly. We’ve learned Blender 3D, we’ve started on Inform 7, and later we’ll move to Flash. My sister (or possibly her husband, who sometimes uses her e-mail address) sent me a link to an editorial on what it’s like to learn a…

Colleges Should Stand Up to the Entertainment Industry

The technical term is “deep packet inspection,” a process by which universities can examine the contents of electronic files that pass back and forth on their networks to see if they contain copyrighted material like the latest M.I.A. single or an episode of Gossip Girl. It’s the equivalent of requiring institutions to steam open and…

Those Who Write, Teach

My provost sent this link to the English faculty, inviting us to share our responses. My father succinctly summarized his feelings about my choice to dedicate my 20s to writing fiction. “You’re not living in the real world,” he said. I reacted with a young man’s defensiveness, but in retrospect his assessment seems less critical…

My Weeping Daughter Pleads for George Lucas to Remake "Ewoks: The Battle for Endor" to Fix Mistakes

CMJ_Ewoks.mp3 (2 min 10 sec; 2.2Mb) The audio is a little over 2 minutes long. Listen to my daughter’s final tearful, generous, heart-felt wish for George Lucas, and then take a look at the chronology below. Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985) Howard the Duck (1986) Similar:Westmoreland County Air Show 2012 (Photos)Traffic leaving the Arnold…

Shattering the illusions of texting

An informative review of Crystal’s Txtng: The Gr8 Db8, a book I need to put on my reading list. I’ve said many times that I’ve *never* encountered a student who absolutely cannot switch between txtspk and standard English. Thus, to unpack that double-negative, I think students can and do regularly make the shift between social…