—WebWord Returning Soon! (WebWord) John S. Rhodes, whose WebWord.com has been down for several months, is planning to bring it back early in 2004. Hurrah! Similar:What a fluke (great headline; great story)AmusingHow to Keep Students Writing in the Age of AI Tools In a writing-intensive class, studen…AcademiaLiteracy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?A good feature from…
I thought I was busy as a graduate student, and I was…. As long as I showed up at the right place — the library, the classroom, the data-entry warehouse — I got through. Being a faculty member lumps the hours and the tasks all together, and there is little immediate feedback on what’s important…
—Blogging Changing Journalism (New Media Journalism @ Seton Hill University) A small number of my students noted in their end-of-term reflection that they weren’t all that comfortable with blogging because they expected a course in traditional journalism, not all this cyberspace stuff… Similar:Innovative journalism: A game about the rising sea, a podcast about fire, a 20-year…
Roland Barthes famously announced the death of the author. This weekend, as thousands of professors and their apprentices mill about the annual meeting of the Modern Language Association in San Diego, one might ask: Has theory succumbed to the same fate? … [T]heory’s promised political liberation never happened. Cultural theory, he argues, instead mutated into…
‘The fakir drew from under his knee a ball of grey twine. Taking the loose end between his teeth, he, with a quick upward motion, tossed the ball into the air. Instead of coming back to him, it kept on going up and up until out of sight and there remained only the long swaying…
The Return of the King (but only after 25 minutes of infernal movie trailers)Jerz’s LIteracy Weblog) My parents came to visit for a few days, so Leigh and I skipped out to see The Return of the King at a matinee. (We saw The Two Towers separately last year.) (*Spoilers*) Of course any cuts are…
—Virtual Punchcard Server (Facade.com) I found this and a great Tongue Twister Database (if by “database” you mean “long list”) via J-Walk Weblog. Similar:Rules for Civility: 14-Year-Old George Washington's 110 Commandments for Cultivating Chara… Every Action done in Company, ought…CultureSad that NASA is taking a back seat to a private company, but still nerding over an…
PETA: Mad Cow with a Side of Green OnionsJerz’s Literacy Weblog) I notice that PETA has lost no time in capitalizing on the mad cow disease to advocate its vegetarian position… but I don’t recall PETA having much to say about the green onion scare! (Google turns up plenty of PETA recipies that use green…
Sites are getting better at using minimalist design, maintaining archives, and offering comprehensive services. However, these advances entail their own usability problems, as several prominent mistakes from 2003 show. —Jakob Nielsen —Top Ten Web Design Mistakes of 2003 (Alertbox) Usually Nielsen’s blurbs are more informative… the “summary” on his site reads more like a marketing tease.…
His full-time job is to keep software-loving scientists and engineers from burying their “whats” in their “hows.” It’s not easy, because PowerPoint’s “hows” get more numerous and distracting with each new release. MORE, the original presentation software, was a 300k program that turned outlines into “bullet charts,” its two-word noun for slides. The latest versions…
Some legal experts said that posting documents detailing the criminal charges against the 45-year-old entertainer was a breakthrough for public access. Others countered that it would undermine the spirit of the law and court proceedings, creating even more of a circus-like atmosphere. —Sue Zeidler —Jackson Web Site Unites, Divides Legal Profession (Yahoo/Reuters) I’ve blogged about Jackson’s…
I can also bake JUST as much as I like. OK, so I like baking a little more than strictly needed, and who really needs seven types of cookies these days, but it’s fun! And some traditions, like the ginger-bread house, have become too important to ignore. —Torill Mortensen —Christmas Eve (Thinking with My Fingers) Simply…
He wrote his plays in longhand. He took his time. He followed the news; he was politically brave. He wrote of the self and also of the world. He wrote for the stage and also for publication. He was theatrical; he was dialectical. He cultivated a public image; a small crowd of remarkable people intersected…
“Embedded,” as in the reporters assigned to accompany military units during the war, beat out “blog” and “SARS (news – web sites)” as the top word of 2003, Web site yourDictionary.com (http://www.yourdictionary.com) said….”Shock-and-awe,” the phrase the U.S. military used to describe the type of campaign it would wage in Iraq, topped other Iraq-related terms like…
Feeling Like a Dad at ChristmasJerz’s Literacy Weblog) Last night, Peter sang in the children’s choir for Christmas Eve mass. I nodded and smiled poudly at him whenever he caught my eye. His baby sister Carolyn spotted him after about twenty minutes, and kept shouting “Peter! Peter” and clapping and going “Yay!” whenever the choir…
He was reading from a university mission statement and other material on its website. “To provide outcome-related research and consultancy services that address real-world issues” – shrieks of laughter. The university’s “approach to quality management is underpinned by a strong commitment to continuous improvement and a whole-of-organisation framework” – uproar in the room. The university…
Bureau of Labor Statistics data indicates that, as of Nov. 30, women represent 50.6 percent of the 48 million employees in management, professional and related occupations. —More U.S. Women Crack Glass Ceiling (Washington Times/UPI) Women are much more likely to go to college than men; they tend to study harder, get higher grades, have fewer drug…
I love the 10 minute presentation. You have enough time to get your points across to the audience without boring them. There is enough time, but it concentrates your mind on cutting out the waffle and making it snappy. Remember nobody ever complained about a presentation being too short. —Jonty Pearce —Ten Minute Presentations (Presentation Helper)…
While many of my students are getting the hang of this, just as many aren’t. I’m sure it’s that some are simply more motivated than others, some feel more comfortable writing for an audience, others are more passionate about their topics, and some are just more confident in their abilities in general. But what those…
Same color palette: greens, blues, and reds on a synthetic base of white. Same kinds of curves and contours, same balance and proportions. Whereas once upon a time toothbrushes were made from a single plastic cast, contemporary models, like contemporary athletic shoes, are built up out of inscrutable deposits of layers and sediment that speak…