Groklaw has a good analysis of the recent Harry Potter Lexicon smackdown. Fair use good, too much verbatim copying bad. The fact is, Rowling and her editor led the defendant on with praise of his website work, such that there was a suggestion by him that he might be the editor of the official encyclopedia,…
A financial researcher comes across a six-year-old article about United Airlines. Thinking it is a current news story, he summarizes it, then republishes the summary out of context. Within 10 minutes, a mass panic hits shareholders who are responding to his summary. More than a billion dollars evaporates into thin air. Tribune Co. said Wednesday…
Great news for those interested in the first draft of history. (Not-so-great news for those worried about Google’s increasing control over so many kinds of information.) C|Net Google is making searchable, digital copies of old newspapers available online through partnerships with their publishers, the company said Monday. Under the ad-supported effort, Google will digitize millions…
Most gamers have never heard of Braunstein. Sad but true. In the hierarchy of self-awareness you’ll find the circle of gamers who know what D&D is (a very, very large circle), then inside of that is the circle of gamers who know what Greyhawk is (large but smaller), and inside that the circle who knows…
Great little vignette highlighting the perils of live TV reporting. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell demonstrates the perils of live television as she gamely tries to report from the Republican National Convention during the midst of a major balloon drop in this clip that’s amusing the chattering class the day after the two-week convention marathon has come…
A former student sent me a link to a Republican spoof of FaceBook, BarackBook. It’s an interesting piece of new media campaigning, where the RNC has created an entire Facebook parody displaying the social network of Barack’s friends. I know you go to great lengths to remain unbiased in the classroom (which is awesome!) but…
Great use of 3D technology to enable the study of an historic art form. Virtual Vaudeville: Watch legendary comedian Frank Bush in a vaudeville performance from a variety of perspectives in the theater, from the most expensive boxes to the cheapest balcony seats. Compare the reactions of different spectators and even experience the act through…
Whenever ice cream sales rise, so do shark attacks (eating ice cream makes you tastier?) (Part of a great series by the BBC. Bookmarked for a future journalism class.) Similar:Stunning writing in this WaPost reflection on the Trump campaign's journey from a gold esc…I’m stunned by the writing. Here’s just …CultureThoughtful analysis of how the…
Because the children were rarely bored – at least, when a television was nearby – they never learned how to use their own imagination as a form of entertainment. “The capacity to daydream enables a person to fill empty time with an enjoyable activity that can be carried on anywhere,” Belton says. “But that’s a…
Sounds like a promising peek behind the curtain at Wired. I’ll watch this for a while and see whether I can use it in my journalism classes. What Is This? An almost-real-time, behind-the-scenes look at the assigning, writing, editing, and designing of a Wired feature. You can see more about the design process on Wired…
I’m always amused when the TV reports from storm landfalls are peppered with statements such as, “There’s nobody here but reporters.” Who needs fairness, objectivity, and nuance when there’s a storm a-brewin? Who needs balance, when you’ve got a pole to lean against? Oh, the drama of the live storm stand-up! TV correspondents bellowing while…
This article should be required reading for all aspiring writers and professionals — not just women. I have spent too much time being rattled by terse e-mail from editors, agents who have told me that I’d never get a book deal, and bosses who have berated me as not being “detail-oriented.” I think that in…
Last year a colleague in the English department described a conversation in which a friend revealed a dirty little secret: “I use Wikipedia all the time for my research–but I certainly wouldn’t cite it.” This got me wondering: How many humanities and social sciences researchers are discussing, using, and citing Wikipedia? — Lisa Spiro When…
I’m teaching a 200-level “Writing for the Internet” class, with students ranging from seniors to first-semester freshmen. Our opening unit is on social, academic, and professional conventions, foregrounding the fact that the internet on which young people play and learn is the same internet in which the adults in their lives are teaching and working…
High-profile sports columnist Jay Mariotti, who dramatically quit the Sun-Times, saying newspapers are a dying industry, seems to have fallen in love with the Web. His former old media comrades aren’t buying it. Roger Ebert: You signed a new contract, waited until days after the newspaper had paid for your trip to Beijing at great…
The possibilities make the mind reel. YouTube Comment Snob is a Firefox extension that filters out undesirable comments from YouTube comment threads. You can choose to have any of the following rules mark a comment for removal: More than # spelling mistakes: The number of mistakes is customizable, and the extension uses Firefox’s built-in spell…
My colleague Lee McClain passed this article on to me — via a post-it note attached to the dead-tree edition of the story. “Move over, mainstream media, it’s the voter’s turn,” says the blurb for an event called: “Tapping the Creative Community: The Power of Voter Generated Media.” To be sure, there are television satellite…
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As homework for another class, a student asked me to give her my definition of a story. I didn’t pull out any narrative theory books to refine it, and I didn’t try to put any special cybertextual spin on it, which I would have done if I’d spent more time thinking about it. Anyway, here’s…
Am I a bad person because I found this Language Log posting hilarious? Which word is grosser? #27 Moist Used Men 48% 52% Women 56% 44% Similar:Earth With RingsSure, Saturn’s rings are cool, but the E…AestheticsEthics (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode 16) Leaky cargo barrel-1, Worf-0.Rewatching ST:TNG Worf is paralyzed i…CultureUngrading after 11 weeksMathematics…