April 2008
Open Textbooks →
Part of the appeal
of open textbooks to students is obviously no cost versus the ridiculously high cost of books for classes. Students can
access open textbooks on the Internet for free. But…
Singularity →
Futurist Ray Kurzweil suggests that we, as a society, are heading toward a moment of singularity. When the singularity occurs,machines will become self-aware. This will have…
On the Fringe of Conferences →
I have been noticing more and more informal meetups developing at the fringes of formal conferences. You attend a
conference and discover that special interest groups are getting together less…
2008 Pulitzer Prize Winners in Poetry →
There are two winners this year - Robert Hass for Time and Materials, and Philip Schultz for Failure. See winners and short biographical information from previous years for poetry, fiction and…
Lou Costello's Place →
Lou Costello Statue, originally uploaded by Gene O’Neill. Cianci Street, Paterson, NJ at Costello Park (Cianci and Ellison Sts., a few blocks from the Great Falls) Read and post comments |
Paterson Great Falls →
Paterson Great Falls, originally uploaded by maspiazu. I walk here at lunch time some days through the carnival of Paterson streets and amongst the ghost thoughts of Alexander Hamilton, William…
The Death of Newspapers →
I remember hearing in my
earliest student days about the death of the novel and the death of the theater. I read a piece recently bemoaning the
death of the short story form. Television was…
Organizing Without Organizations →
I
discovered an interesting book while listening to a podcast of The Brian Lehrer Show. It’s Here Comes Everybody: The Power
of Organizing Without Organizations written by …
Greening Your Technology →
Since you are a blog reader and online now, the chances are good that you are a higher technology user than the average person. You have a cell phone, computer (probably several including your…
What's In An EDU name? →
marketing.edu
Today: a case
and a lesson.
In The Chronicle of Higher Education, I first read about the case of an online college that is
“renting” space on their .edu domain. Criticism…
The Tech of Earth Day →
If you read this blog, the chances are good that you are a higher technology user than the average person. You have a
cell phone, computer (probably several including your work one), media…
Socrato →
Socrates on an excellent adventure with Bill &
Ted
OK, dear reader, what’s your take on this -
Socrato (a play on Socrates - the Socratic method dude) is a
Massachusetts-based…
Today Is Poem in Your Pocket Day →
April is National Poetry Month and one way to celebrate is with the first annual Poem in Your Pocket Day.
It’s a simple idea. Select a poem you
love, print a copy and carry it with you to…
Day of Remembrance →
It has been
a year, and there will be more than enough coverage on this tragic anniversary. The Virginia Tech community will have
its own ways of remembering those who were
lost. I…
Authors Online →
The Authors@Google program brings authors to Google (at the
Mountain View headquarters and in New York, Santa Monica, and Ann Arbor) for talks around recently published books.
It sounds like…
National Poetry Month: A Poem in Your Pocket Day →
National Poetry Month was established by the Academy of American Poets as a month-long, national celebration of poetry. The concept was to increase the attention paid-by individuals and…
Social Net Numbers →
I’m trying to make some sense of social networks and making a profit from them. Someone is doing it. How? First, some numbers… MySpace Membership 2005 = 20 million currently =…
The New Abolitionists →
After listening to the radio program
To The Best of Our Knowledge recently, I feel compelled
to spread the word about that particular episode. That program was called “The New…
Half Way Metrics →
On April 2nd, the news that John Sobecki was leaving the Employme! program was, to me, an incomplete surprise. Offered a full-time
position at Centenary College after having
taught as an…
The Inkhorn Controversy and Composition in a... →
A few weeks ago, I attended the NJCEA spring conference and made a presentation. I should have known just by the other presentation titles with their
thesis-style titles (colons &…
Technology Ethics: An Oxymoron? →
I mentioned in an earlier post that I was part of a panel at the NJ
Writing Alliance conference last Friday. I was asked (and then asked myself here on the blog), “Does
technology actually…
It's Almost Too Easy For You To Do Something Good... →
I invite you to do some good for the world while you are online today. All you have to do is click on a few links. No obligation. No cost to you, other than a few moments of your online time….
Poetry from Guantanamo: The Detainees Speak →
I realized today that I had first heard about a collection of poetry written by Guantanamo Bay detainees last summer on an NPR program. The piece featured attorney Marc Falkoff, who represents 17…
Introducing the Internet of 1995 →
I came across these videos while searching for some Internet history. They are 13 years old and depending on how old
YOU are this view of the Net will either seem ancient or nostalgically…
How Open Source Has Changed Your Writing - Reader... →
I asked on an earlier post for readers to contribute to a presentation that I was prepping for
the NJCEA Annual Conference last
month. I had set up a web page (really, a wiki page) at
New Abolitionists →
I listened to the radio program To The Best of Our Knowledge this past weekend (you can listen online and subscribe to the podcast version - I advise you to check the show archives…
Real World Data from the United Nations →
I stumbled on the United Nations UNdata site
recently. It’s a powerful database of information that could be used in many ways by students and teachers.
Currently, it holds 55…
Life after XP →
June 30th, 2008 is a big date for computer manufacturers and end-users everywhere. Microsoft, announcing that the
availability of XP on some new hardware will be extended to
June 30th, 2010,…
Technical Writers and Open Source Projects →
When I wrote here asking if readers would post their thoughts on the wiki page I set up about open source tools and
how it has changed their writing or the teaching of writing, I got a good number…
Blackboard Win Becomes A Loss. Maybe. →
I wrote
briefly that Blackboard had won
its patent infringement suit against rival Desire2Learn back in late February. But then not so long after, the
patent itself was rejected by the…
Physics, Hip Hop and AP Exams →
When MIT says that you can get all their courses (1,800 now) from OpenCourseware, they’re not
kidding. I’m guessing that they started with the big guns like Physics and such. This week they…
Poetry Makes Nothing Happen: Poems of Protest →
I’m still thinking about the issues addressed in my last post and it had me thinking about a line from a W.H. Auden poem that is frequently quoted out of context. It’s the line, “Poetry makes…
21 More Things To Know →
The always useful 7 Things You Should Know series from the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI) has added a few new titles since I
was there last. Each one is 2 pages and highly-reproducible as…
Adopting EduSpeak →
The National Education Association, at their recently concluded conference in Washington D.C., has announced the adoption of EduSpeak as the formal and accepted standard of communication…
