Tomorrow is the last day of classes, but it’s not too late to bring up a new topic. Many of my students in “Intro to Literary Study” were fascinated by Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game, so I thought they might appreciate hearing about Card’s dismissal of J.K. Rowling’s suit against a fan-created reference work devoted…
The idea isn’t new, but the phrasing is clear and effective. Todd Alcott: Just as movies began as novelties shown before “real” entertainment, or as nickel entertainments in amusement arcades, well, that describes the early days of gaming as well. Movies went from Train Arriving at a Station to The Great Train Robbery in twelve…
The idea of paying for positive coverage at a scholarly conference is 0% original. Inside Higher Ed reports on Turnitin.com’s awkward efforts to get positive coverage at the 4Cs next year. (Via KairosNews, which links to blogger reactions.) The issue of paying professors to attend the 4C’s meeting is particularly sensitive because of the make-up…
Wired just loves technology. Here’s an article about a technological solution to forgetting. As a science fiction fan, I had always assumed that when computers supplemented our intelligence, it would be because we outsourced some of our memory to them. We would ask questions, and our machines would give oracular — or supremely practical —…
More cruel jokes to play on literal-minded people. Similar:Portofess”If people can confess on Oprah, Phil an…EthicsJoyful white guys finish ahead of struggling woman and black man in this university’s cata…Looks like the quality control process a…Academia"If It's Not Baroque, Don't Fix It" Cogsworth Broadway Supercuthttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mx6t-pef…AmusingAve atque valeWhat is a liberal education and what it …AcademiaSelling…
Reuters: To launch next year as a massively multiplayer online game, or MMOG to those in the gaming community, Lego Universe will let players create online versions of themselves and interact with each other. Thanks for the suggestion, Rosemary. Similar:Local TV News Stations Present Amazon PR Video as JournalismAbout a dozen local TV news stations…
Not the best spoof I’ve ever seen, but if you really want to see a spoof of a trailer of a documentary about text adventure games, you might be somewhat amused. (Here’s the original.) I’m mocked in this, if that’s any incentive to anyone… Similar:Crying Myself to Sleep on the Biggest Cruise Ship EverI’ve felt…
The Weekly Standard does not like The Newseum. Our terrific country offers lots of ways to make a living, but with the possible exceptions of movie acting and architecture, only modern journalism would have the nerve to celebrate itself with something as gaudy and improbable as the Newseum. Similar:Darmok (#StarTrek #TNG Rewatch, Season 5, Episode…
In case you didn’t know, Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) is back. (School Library Journal) The CYOA books allow middle graders to experiment with nonlinear storytelling, “a developmental step that some kids need.” Choice-points in the stories force youngsters to visualize and mull over plot possibilities, letting them take control of the reading experience. Individual…
AP: Nearly a third of children ages 6 to 10 are regular users of digital audio players, according to market research firm the NPD Group. And thanks to entrepreneurs like Katz, they can now use them to listen to bedtime stories. In March, the Audible.com founder launched AudibleKids.com, where children can download books directly onto…
Naomi Alderman (Guardian): [S]ometimes I admire the beautifully-rendered star-filled sky, and sometimes I drive the in-game car into a lamp-post, just to see what happens. It is play, just like “cops and robbers”, just like daydreaming, just like writing a novel. I’m not a big fan of driving games, and the longest stretches of game-playing…
Guardian: First Battlestar Galactica was reinvented as a must-watch TV show and clever allegory for US foreign policy post-9/11. Then the Doctor returned from Gallifrey to make sci-fi cool and revive mainstream family viewing. Now Sky One is hoping to continue the successful reinvention of the genre with a multimillion-pound remake of the 1970s British…
Wired: The U.S. Army Intelligence Center is using a custom game to train interrogators, or “human collectors,” as they are euphemistically known. Known by the staggering title of Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Tactical Proficiency Trainer Human Intelligence Control Cell, the simulation was designed by General Dynamics from the shooter Far Cry. The Army game features…
Inside Higher Ed: “Information on computer science subjects in Wikipedia is likely to be accurate and informative, often using unique resources to illustrate concepts that are not available to print media,” wrote de Medeiros in an e-mail. “This probably derives from the fact that computer scientists use the computer as their main form of access…
Nerdvana: ROFLCon (From Leeeeroy Jeninks to Bert is Evil to LOLTrek to Tron guy, old friends come back from the abyss; good thing too, because I’ve got more than 15 minutes of love for our favorite memes of yesteryear. Mix up a bunch of super famous internet memes, some brainy academics, a big audience, dump…
Pew / Internet (PDF): Most teenagers spend a considerable amount of their life composing texts, but they do not think that a lot of the material they create electronically is real writing. The act of exchanging emails, instant messages, texts, and social network posts is communication that carries the same weight to teens as phone…
NYT: T. rex shared more of its genetic makeup with ostriches and chickens than with living reptiles, like alligators. On this basis, the research team has redrawn the family tree of major vertebrate groups, assigning the dinosaur a new place in evolutionary relationships. Similar molecular tests on tissues from the extinct mastodon confirmed its close…
Geeky awesomeness from the Steampunk Workshop. Similar:My son just handed me my serving of noodles in the butter substitute container. Recycling.AmusingCapitalists Tell Facebook They've Had EnoughIt started as a murmur of dissent, but o…BusinessThe Google Classroom TeaseJoshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed: “Google Cl…AcademiaPompeii artifacts at the Carnegie Science Center The lighting was very low, so…
Back when the box art had little to do with the way computer games looked, you got used to the cognitive disconnect between the two media. My brain still hasn’t fully processed Infocom Diskgate, when I come across a trove of Atari 2600 cartridges that resemble games I played, but the boxes seem… different. Here’s…
Imagine that, since childhood, you’ve been a fan of a now-obscure genre of computer games called interactive fiction. Imagine that, since 1999, you’ve kept a weblog. Imagine that, since 2003, you’ve taught journalism and new media courses, in which you have introduced students to weblogs and interactive fiction (among other topics, of course). Recently, after…