An informal 1998 survey by John Rhodes yielded the following advice: create your content first, then design your website; keep your design simple; use proper grammar. —How to Gain the Trust of Your UsersWebWord) Similar:More modular low-poly background buildings. I’ll do some more facades then move to the nex…More modular low-poly background buildin…AestheticsDennis Jerz, R.U.R…
“For a game that is so unfair, stylistically inconsistent, and frustrating, it has been tremendously influential. This was the first of its kind — using words to create a rich simulated world. Nobody had seen anything like it; it spread quickly across the Internet.” Dennis G. Jerz [Recently updated.] —Colossal Cave Adventure Similar:How PatrioticAmusingDear daughter,…
—All Your Usenet Are Belong to Wesley Crusher Similar:In Defense of DistractionIf you’re a fan of lifehacking, you’ll a…Culture‘Chronicles of Prydain’ Movie: Disney Acquires Rights to DevelopWe went through a Lloyd Alexander phase …BooksYour Brain on ShakespeareAmusingPreparing for some serious nerd time with the family this summerSet phasers to “nerd”! This summer I’ll…CultureGalaxy’s Child (#StarTrek…
Google has extended its history of newsgroup postings all the way back to 1981. “Most who posted to Usenet back in its glory days were probably unaware that they were creating an archive documenting the most significant moments of the late 20th century.” —Google’s Gaggle of Discussions (Wired) Similar:Out & About: Stage Right holds its…
How many Internet memes can you cram into one weblog posting? —All Your Wesley Crusher Are Belong to Taliban Similar:Hello, Dolly! (Apr 27, 28 & 29, Palace Theater, Greensburg)”65 kids from 15 different schools- comi…CultureMore Americans now see the media’s influence growing compared with a year agoAmericans’ views about the influence of …CultureI did not…
“If the poet’s own performance is too perfect—if she seems to get every bit of substance out of the poem—then maybe she didn’t put enough in to begin with.” Adam Hirsch —Hearing Aid : Sometimes poetry should be seen but not heard (Slate) Similar:In August, 2001 I was blogging about… Broken Links and Poor Information…
“The World Trade Center attack inspired a lot of Web-publishing of independent, personal accounts.” What can weblogs and online diaries teach us about online journalism? —What does Sept 11 teach us about online journalism? (TheMorningNews.org) Similar:Touch Me Now: York Plays 2025A cast of hundreds participated in a pub…AcademiaThe case for puns as the most elevated…
Uh… no. That already is college.com. —“This will be college.com. Contact us.” Similar:PAC-MAN: The Untold Story of How We Really Played the GameA fascinating study of the thinginess of…AestheticsOn Instructional Technology and Face-to-Face Interaction CybercultureChurnalism SearchAt the University of Virginia, one summe…CultureHow Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled”I remember the…
A medical student was scanning the dense prose on the copyright page of his textbook, when he read the word, “congratulations”. He now owns a ’65 Thunderbird. —Read Your Textbooks! (Boston Globe) Similar:What does a professor do, other than lecture for a few hours a week? Wow, this response! 😮 We really do hav…AcademiaWhat would…
“Why bother to code a clever and long-lived virus when a stupid one that spreads for an hour or two gets just as much attention from antiviral experts and the media?” (Uh-oh! An anti-virus company’s marketing flack warns that Goner is coming back! Better pay big bucks to the anti-virus companies, to protect you from clicking…
“Sitting by the window of his study on a summer day in the early 1930s, a thin-faced Oxford professor let his mind wander from correcting papers and into a world that would become Middle-earth.” Pamela S. Turner —Visit the Birthplace of Middle-Earth (CSM) Similar:Parallel Structure vs. Faulty ParallelismI just touched up a handout on Parallel…
A flashback to the Silicon Valley excesses of 1998, before the bubble burst: “There are headhunters who handle only Cobol programmers from Singapore, and headhunters who specialize in luring toy-company executives, and, I’ve recently learned, a headhunting firm that helps other headhunting firms hunt for headhunters.” Po Bronson —Is the Revolution Over?Wired) Similar:Infographics: the PowerPoint…
Wil Wheaton, the actor whose Star Trek character inspired the newsgroup alt.ensign.wesley.die.die.die, has long been geekdom’s favorite whipping boy. “But now, thanks to a self-coded, shamelessly dorky website, many of the same folks who loathed Wheaton on the show are finding out he’s a whole lot like them in real life.” —Wheaton’s Trek to Respectability…
Wild America – a short story by Jayne Loader. Welcome to Wild America! Do you need instructions? YES You are living in the richest kingdom in the world, where others have found fame and fortune, though it is rumored that some who enter here are never heard from again. Where would you like to begin…
(short story by E.M. Forster, 1909) I want to see you not through the Machine,” said Kuno. “I want to speak to you not through the wearisome Machine.” “Oh, hush!” said his mother, vaguely shocked. “You mustn’t say anything against the Machine.” “Why not?” “One mustn’t.” —The Machine Stops Similar:Parable of…
“In a study of readers who read either a simulated literary hypertext or the same text in linear form, we found a range of significant differences: these suggest that hypertext discourages the absorbed and reflective mode that characterizes literary reading.” (Miall and Dobson) —Reading Hypertext and the Experience of Literature (Journal of Digital Information) Similar:How…
English studies after Sept 11: What’s the point? “The theoretical models that have dominated English and the related disciplines in the last two decades are especially effective tools (along with the institutional factors that have always existed) for creating demoralization.” Lisa Ruddick —The Near Enemy of the Humanities is Professionalism (Chronicle) Similar:America's ShakespeareShakespeare continues to…
What if David Mamet rewrote 2001: A Space Oddysey? (Warning: offensive language.) Bowman: It’s just… how do I say this. These dead crewmembers. Hal: I don’t follow you. Bowman: These crewmembers here that were in cryogenic suspension. That are now dead. Hal: Oh yes. That was self-defense. Bowman: Hal, look at me. What am I,…
You may have heard news stories trumpeting a great scientific breakthrough in the controversial practice of cloning human beings. Some critics claim that reporters, looking for easy stories to publish after a holiday weekend, put too much faith in a company’s press release. —Experts Rip Cloning ‘Story’ (Wired) Similar:Radio News Delivery: How to Sound Like…
Everyone’s, like, using it all the time, but David Grambs is all, like, “What price is literate, listenable English paying for its increasing currency?” —The Like Virus (Vocabula Review) Similar:Melissa Terras Reports Her Success in Making Digital Humanities More InclusiveA pleasant little success story. “TEI” i…AcademiaUnderstanding Shakespeare: "Pick a play. Click a line…"Pick a play.…