This computer game tries something new. “If a character tells you he’ll call you tomorrow, he’s not kidding. You’ll have to wait a day to get his information. Faxes may arrive without warning, and instant messages may pop up onscreen when you least expect them — maybe even while you’re at work.” Wired.com —“Majestic” Invades…
“Organized religion was a primary target of every one of the twentieth century’s regimes of terror. But as is evident in Nazi and Communist terrors alike, organized irreligion (to put it in Royal’s sharp formulation) has proved far more dangerous than organized religion ever was.” Alicia Mosier Similar:Rhythm of the Dance (Irish dance, song, and…
You might assume there could not be a worse time for a field calling itself “Internet studies.” You would be wrong. The Chronicle of Higher Education Similar:Kids Whose Parents Limit Screen Time Do Worse in College, New Study Shows “Parents normally set these ru…AcademiaFeature: History Lesson: the treasured past of LucasArts point and clicksI played…
“Lambert received the e-mail in December, a piece of scrap in the vast electronic junkyard that is the World Wide Web. Regrettably, she says now, she removed the letter’s forwarding markers and unintentionally put her name at the bottom, making it appear that she was the author.” Washington Post —Don’t forward that e-mail just yet!…
“[W]hat could be more scholarly than a nice, authoritative statistic, quoted from a professional journal in the student’s field?” The Chronicle of Higher Education —Telling the Truth About Damned Lies and Statistics Similar:Past Prologue (#StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch, Season 1, Episode 3) A renegade seeking asylum test…Rewatching ST:DS9 The pilot of a Bajo…CybercultureSpring 2025 Final Grades…
The longer the company’s annual report, the less successful the company. This isn’t really a technical writing issue — usually companies with bad news to report need a lot of words to explaining themselves. But if this is what it takes to get some pinhead CEOs to appreciate brevity, so be it. Wired Similar:Scat "boop…
Danielle Preston —You Know You’re a Technical Writer When… Similar:Essay on the flaws of distance educationThe web also creates the illusion that a…Academiaink: Inkle's open source scripting language for writing interactive narrativeGearing up to teach “Digital Storytellin…CybercultureBy the way, humans sent a robot to another planet, and the robot sent us the sound of a…
A student of mine makes comments on interactive fiction, garish colors, and dancing text. Jan Carroll —Just For the Record Similar:Three challenges for the web, according to its inventorA letter, published a few weeks ago, in …BusinessKids Today: A Response to Mark Bauerlein (from "Dean Dad")Mark Bauerlein’s essay “What’s the Point…AcademiaRay Harryhousen, visual effects pioneer,…
learns something from my freshman comp students. On March 13, 2000, I e-mailed web guru Jakob Nielsen to tell him that six of my freshmen spent 8-30 minutes on his site without finding a plain-text “search” link on the home page. A week or so later, I noticed that Nielsen changed his page, making the…
“[W]hen it comes to writing, whether you’re a seventh grader, a college student, a professor, a beginning copywriter, or an accomplished novelist, a B isn’t good enough.” Kathy Henning —For Writers, Writing Is Never a Waste of Time: Part 2 Similar:Ernest Shackleton's ship Endurance, lost since 1915, is found off Antarctica An expedition that set…
“[A] society without literature, or a society in which literature has been relegated–like some hidden vice–to the margins of social and personal life, and transformed into something like a sectarian cult, is a society condemned to become spiritually barbaric, and even to jeopardize its freedom.” Mario Vargas Llosa Similar:Survivorship Bias – You Are Not So…
The creator of Cliffs Notes has died. Here’s his obituary — although I know you probably won’t bother to read the whole thing. Similar:Historians Admit To Inventing Ancient GreeksI knew it! Busted!! “One night someone …AcademiaPartisan Pa. websites masquerading as local news threaten trust in journalism, new report …People with financial interests to prote…CultureMedia Bias…
On the tasteless side, but still very funny: “Some Features You May Need on Your Computer“ Similar:Cooper Hewitt: the typeface by Chester Jenkins “[S]ince Cooper Hewitt is a governme…AestheticsIn defense of the Selfie StickI’m sure there are hipsters, even now, l…AmusingFor New Acquisitions, UMD Libraries Choose Ebooks by DefaultIncreasingly book vendors provide option…AcademiaTrouble importing UMA…
“It is our duty, as responsible citizens, to stop the rot. Next time someone touches base with you or moves your goal posts, punch them in the face.” Clint Witchalls —Business and the English Language Similar:Something to Ponder — Let Me Fix That Meme For YouArt“Your resume is not about you:” Insights from a journalism…
“Europe once sought to bring enlightenment—literacy, civil society, modern technology—to benighted parts of the world. It did so in the name of progress and civilization. The ethic of Third Worldism dictates that yesterday’s enlightenment be rebaptized as today’s imperialistic oppression.” Roger Kimball Similar:Virtual debates about homelessness in Sim City hold up a mirror to real…
Imagine yourself creating a game with a world for other people to inhabit on your own computer. It is a world without sounds or visuals. Now, put yourself into the textual world and imagine yourself in that world and living through the game. Laura L. Hogue —Text-based computer game lets players interact with story. Similar:My…
The point is not that we should add stories to our sites to ensnare narrative-starved readers. The point is that the reader’s journey through our site is a narrative experience. Our job is to make the narrative satisfying. Mark Bernstein —The Narrative Web Similar:Because words matter, old sport.AcademiaGoogle engineer put on leave after saying AI…
“Roget’s Thesaurus… should be roundly condemned as a crucial part of the engine work that has transported us to our current state of linguistic and intellectual mediocrity. Simon Winchester What’s another word for “thesaurus”? Similar:Clickbait Tactics Drive the Writing of Headlines on ABC NewsI probably should not be surprised, but …BusinessAlways Bet on TextGraydon Hoare…
Look for an “escape from frames” or “turn this frame off” link. Right-click on a link (or, on a Mac, hold down the control key while clicking) and select the command that will let you “open link in new window.” —Frames: Finding the URL of a Framed Document Similar:Former Facebook Workers: We Routinely Suppressed [a…
“Writers, pause and think what your purpose is. Sure, you have to earn a living, but does it disgust you to write over-simplified articles that tell a partial truth, or even worse, lie, because your editor and publisher won’t buy anything with more depth. Does it frustrate you that readers know you’re lying, and seek…