Isolated and Stranded…and Wet (Jerz’s Literacy Weblog) Yesterday afternoon, if you were on campus at Seton Hill University, you might have noticed signs going up in the hallways, stating that the faculty/staff e-mail server would be down all weekend, for unavoidable emergency repairs. If you were behind me as I was driving home in the pouring…
An Idaho English teacher is in trouble for ripping up a Bible in class. Burley High’s Karen Christenson said she was trying to illustrate a point about censorship, as her sophomore students read Ray Bradbury’s novel “Fahrenheit 451,” which is set in a future society that commands all literature be burned. —Teacher In Trouble For…
Much of what I and a former student put in “Writing Effective E-Mail: Top 10 Tips” also applies to e-newsletters, but people are much more likely to scan (or trash) newsletters that seem irrelevant. I like e-mail newsletters because they are self-contained — I can print them out and read them offline, or I can…
With funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Committee on Institutional Cooperation conducted a study (June-November, 2003) to determine the extent to which publication of a scholarly monograph is essential for faculty to receive tenure in the humanistic disciplines…. Among the major findings are the following: With the exception of scholars who are doing…
Our first and most important line of defense against academic dishonesty is simply good teaching. Cheating and plagiarism often arise in a vacuum created by routine, lack of interest and overwork. Professors who give the same assignment every semester, fail to guide students in the development of their projects and have little interest in what…
FactCheck.org fills a journalistic void. Major media outlets tend to report on the strategy behind campaign commercials rather than analyzing the content for veracity. Even though Jackson pioneered ad watches for CNN, the cable network let him go last year. “I’ve seen the press generally put less emphasis on ad watches and fact-check-type stories,” Jackson…
After much delay, the results of this year’s BetaComp are in. I was pleased to see that once again, each entrant found at least *something* that no other entrant did, and no single entrant found more than about 50% of all the bugs that were found. This reinforces the prevailing theory that several testers (and…
The problem with comments, open forums, e-mail discussion lists and other user-generated online content is that it takes work — usually a moderator or trust system — to make sure the comments stay relevant, clean and spam-free. In fact, spammers have made old Usenet groups unreadable, have flooded most e-mail inboxes, and have brought their…
Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim. —Richard Cory Interactive Adventure (LLamas) Quite frankly, this was a disappointment, but it was still sick, so it might still have some morbid entertainment value. (The climax of…
You are now registered for Serious Games Summit at the Loews L’Enfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, DC on October 18-19, 2004. Serious Games Summit Registration Confirmation (Serious Games Summit) The Seton Hill administration came up with most of the cost of registering for the conference, which was very generous, since I’m not presenting a paper. My…
I have never posted before, and I hope that I am doing this correctly. This is in response to the questions about the dates of the birth of the historical Jesus of Nazareth. —Dennis G. Jerz, 1993. —Clueless Usenet Newbie: ”Re: Jesus’ Birthday” (alt.folklore.urban) What a dork I was. I was… am part of the Eternal…
[O]nline media can take us and our readers to places journalism hasn’t been before. And in those places, our values may be obstacles or antiques. Please consider: Balance/Fairness/WholenessHypertext links to more information can guarantee thorough reporting. But we should decide: When we should link to ads, to editorials or columns, to sites of partisan organizations,…
One proposal put forward is that Newton’s idea that the force of gravity weakens as distance increases may be incorrect over very large spaces, and may drop off over very long distances. —Robin McKie —Space probes feel cosmic tug of bizarre forces (Guardian) Similar:Effects of Internet use on the adolescent brain: despite popular claims, experimental…
NEW YORK – It‘snot just students who need to brush up on their writing. A majority of U.S. employers say about one-third of workers do not meet the writing requirements of their positions, according to a survey by the College Board‘sNational Commission on Writing. —Survey show workers shud write better (MSNBC/AP) I’m sorry, this is just…
It is an article of faith with millions of Americans, most of them on the left, that George W. Bush is stupid. Many reasonable people think his policies are ill-advised, but millions more insist Bush must be a moron because he sounds stupid… In a letter to be published in The Atlantic’s October issue, Price…
“Turn off the television and read the newspaper. There’s more truth in your local paper than you’ll find on CNN.” — James McBride, author and musician, concluding his remarks at tonight’s lecture here at Seton Hill University. —James McBride Lecture (New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University) Similar:Weekly and seasonal patterns in visits to an MLA…
On April 12 1979, Kevin McKenzie of Arpanet’s MsgGroup made the following suggestion: Perhaps we could extend the set of punctuation we use, i.e.: If I wish to indicate that a particular sentence is meant with tongue-in-cheek, I would write it so: “Of course you know I agree with all the current administration’s policies -).”…
The popular online pastime known as blogging has found its way into the English classrooms at Georgia Tech. In an innovative approach, Dr. Charles Tryon and Dr. Doreen Piano have both integrated blogging into their English 1101 classes this semester for the first time. —Jeff Wei —LCC professors explore weblogging in English classes (Technique) I’m afraid…
“While trying to improve math, science, and technology in our schools, we’ve neglected writing,” said Commission member Gaston Caperton, president of the College Board, which founded the Commission. “Writing is a fundamental professional skill. Most of the new jobs in the years ahead will emphasize writing. If students want professional work in service firms, in…
Called Ka-on, which means “flower sound” in Japanese, the gadget consists of a doughnut-shaped magnet and coil at the base of a vase. It hooks up to a CD player, TV or stereo and relays sounds up through a plant’s stem and out via the petals. — Flower power turns up the volume (BBC) Thanks for…