Fascinating discussion of the evolution (and violation) of the emerging blogosphere convention for citing links, in the late 90s. A few years ago, I was exploring what happened to the canonical first blogs, a short list of frequently updated web pages that Jesse James Garret identified as weblogs, and I mentioned in passing that I…
I’ve been waiting quite a while to be able to blog this campus newspaper story about Jason Scott’s visit to Seton Hill. Unlike today’s traditional videogames, which are jam-packed with high-resolution graphics, text adventure games force players to utilize their imaginations. Also known as interactive fiction, these were the precursors for some of the most…
Documentary filmmaker Jason Scott will present GET LAMP, a documentary on word-driven computer games, at Seton Hill University, 7-10pm Tuesday (Oct 5). Scott is a digital entrepreneur with a Twitter account devoted to his cat Sockington (with nearly 1.5 million followers). He regularly gives convention speeches on such topics as Wikipedia and digital archiving. GET…
I just wrote these examples on a student paper, in an attempt to reinforce a lesson in showing vs. telling. 1) Winning is important to me. It doesn’t matter to me what I do, so long as I win. (That’s TELLING. Its dry and boring, and not at all convincing.) 2) On the shelf in…
Faculty members at Seton Hill University, which gave iPads to all full-time students, are working with the developers of an e-book app called Inkling to come up with new ways to integrate the iPad into classroom instruction. The textbook software–one of many in development–allows students to access interactive graphics and add notes as they read…
A skillful exercise, this sonnet blog. Such parser game nostalgia warms my heart. You might be int’rested in Graham Nelson’s Command-line Shakespeare remix, The Tempest. Similar:Vandal scratches Poe phrase into car at dealershipLanguage nerds will appreciate this news…AmusingWar via TikTok: Russia's new tool for propaganda machine “This is the way they go to war; it’s…
There was no leaflet in my mailbox this morning, but I did find something much better — a copy of Jason Scott’s text adventure game documentary.My commemorative coin… Similar:Shakaar #StarTrek #DS9 Rewatch (Season 3, Episode 20) Winn asks Kira to reclaim macguffins… Rewatching ST:DS9 After losing to O…Empathy'Anti-dopamine parenting' can curb a kid's craving for…
Some college campuses will start seeing fewer students coming to class with a pen and paper — and more carrying iPads. At Seton Hill University, in Greensburg, Pa., every fulltime student, no matter what year they are, will be receiving an Apple iPad when they return to campus this fall. The iPad will be used…
I am still looking for a good iPad ebook app. I was frustrated that neither Apple’s iBook app nor Amazon’s Kindle app let you do all of the following: Highlight in multiple colors Type annotations Look up words in a dictionary The B&N app lets you highlight in a single color (gray), and permits both…
These are interactive news packages I’ve selected to show to journalism students as we discuss some of the capabilities of Adobe Flash. Many are very recent. —Mindy McAdams Similar:The Lost Art of Paste-UpWhen I started using a word processor as…AestheticsLetter Grades Deserve an 'F'In a points-based grade book, the studen…AcademiaThe Child –Antoine Bardou-Jacquet –The Child…AestheticsGround-nesting…
I’ve sometimes pointed out to my students that in my generation, graduating from high school and leaving your peers behind to go to college mostly meant that you were saying goodbye. Since then, I have gotten back in touch with a couple dozen high school friends, and even some elementary school friends (including the smartest…
Avi sez, “‘Mickey Mouse in Gurs’ is a tragic ‘comic’ book made by Horst Rosenthal in 1942 while incarcerated at the Gurs internment camp in France. Rosenthal uses Mickey Mouse as a kind of subversive Virgil to guide us through the hellish experiences of the concentration camp. Horst Rosenthal was murdered in Auschwitz in 1942.”…
In his Inside Higher Ed blog, Joshua Kim writes: A transformative step that learning technologists can participate in proposing, pushing, guiding, leading, managing and maintaining would be providing a campus-wide blogging platform and institutional aggregation site. Here are some guidelines for what this could look like… Here is the text of a comment I posted:…
I’m not sure many people really care that today marks the 10th anniversary of the date that the moon was supposed to have blasted out of Earth’s orbit in the British sci-fi show Space: 1999, but here’s a YouTube clip that presents an alternate opening of Star Trek, redone in the style of Space: 1999.…
Clever DVD Verdict review (written by recent SHU graduate Mike Rubino) DM: You pick up Dungeons & Dragons: The Animated Series, and find that it is lighter than expected. Your nostalgia level receives a +5 for the next nine hours and 54 minutes. (Thanks for the link, Josh.) Similar:‘Because’ has become a preposition, because grammarThe…
I just noticed that Jason Scott has redesigned the home page for his film website. Good things are worth the wait. I’m content to wait. Similar:How exactly do bridges bridge? How do rivers rive? How much detail does my model of #medie…How exactly do bridges bridge? How do ri…AestheticsBill Murray Admits A Painting Saved His…
I tell my kids steampunk bedtime stories about the adventures of Captain Rod Gearhart and the Magnificent Blimpship. Since I also enjoy playing with Blender 3D, it seemed natural to make these clockwork heart decorations. (My wife offered detailed pointers to tweak the one on the right.) Similar:How a Radical New Teaching Method Could Unleash…
This bit of educational theatrical fun sounds awesome! Via. Travelling from past to future through a landscape of machines and ideas Walk the Plank and Thingumajig Theatre have created an interactive journey through the courtyard of Manchester’s Town Hall. The audience will help inventor and mathematician Charles Babbage find the clues to repair his Difference…
The personality profile is a staple of intro to journalism classes, but newspapers don’t tend to collect all their profiles in one place, so I often have trouble finding models. Entrants in the Hearst Journalism Awards have to supply a profile as part of their application process (which also includes general news and on-the-spot reporting). …
It’s hot here in Sacramento. I got lost wandering the UC-Davis campus looking for the Computers & Writing registration table. I discovered lots of bike paths — several of them more than once. I stumbled upon a building with people whom I recognize from various conferences. There was a nice snack table. I had helped…