Someone made clever use of the wet paint signs.
May 2005 Archives
I just came across the research blog of two very cool scholar/bloggers working in the area of new literacies: Blogtrax, "the metablog of Guy and DrJoolz who are researching the process of blogging." My impression from a first glance is that it's aiming towards an auto-ethnography on blogging, playing with ideas around communities of practice, affinity spaces, and the like. Will definitely keep an eye on it.
University presses challenge Google (NY Times): "Peter Givler, executive director of the press association, said that Google Print for Libraries "appears to involve systematic infringement of copyright on a massive scale."" No big surprise really, you had to imagine that there would be some push-back along the way. Something to keep an eye on.
This is good for a giggle: Trump University It's no joke though; the online (non-credit carrying, non-degree-granting) university, whose motto is "We teach success," plans to teach the Trump Way: "Most importantly, Trump University will deliver the experience, knowledge, and wisdom of Donald Trump himself. The real-estate mogul’s personal teachings, experiences and philosophies will be fully integrated into the curriculum. He will be featured in online video, the Trump University website, multimedia learning programs, and much more." (from Trump U press release) Trump as teacher? You're fired!
This is very pertinent to conversations around blogs and higher ed that went on over the weekend, and echoes broader tensions on several campuses - Columbia included - over free speech in academia...
Cloaked in Cyberspace: "St. Lawrence University is trying to force disclosure of the names of bloggers behind a site they say ridicules and harasses students and faculty members. ... What St. Lawrence really wants is the identity of the bloggers, who are called “John Doe"s in the suit. There are eight site contributors, but only the picture posters are “named” -– using their pseudonyms -– in the suit. They call themselves “Christian Evangelist” and “collars down.”"
Although I couldn't find a response by the university administration on the SLU website, a February meeting of the university's Thelomathesian Society (student governing body) describes a conversation around SLU's acceptable use policy, while a recent edition of the university's quarterly magazine deals with the issue of academic freedom. For me, this brings home the fact that in one sense, our discussions around blogs land us smack in the middle of issues that have been around in one form or another for ages.
I'm in LA for SSAW, right now listening to Mark Hemphill and Seb Paquet talk about their Campus Commons project and embracing emergence. Earlier this morning, I gave a quick talk/overview/discussion starter on the topic of research on blogs-in-use in the classroom (or the somewhat surprising lack thereof, given that blogs have been used in classrooms for at least 4 years if not more).
Many of the presentations have been posted at the SSAW wiki, with hopefully more to come. The site also has a growing collection of links to resources, backchannel discussions from the two days, and links to links (egad.) (if you get an authentication dialogue box pop up when you go to the page, just click cancel. it's a little "feature" that we're trying to get straightened out - UPDATE: it's fixed, no more pop-up. yay!)
Anywho, jet lag aside, things have gone really well! Mad props to the people at ACC for throwing a great workshop, and to all the presenters and other participants for their energy and enthusiasm.
done!! (with classes) (for this semester) what with that and weather finally a seasonable sunny and upper-60's, i'm feeling as happy as humph the happy red guy. maybe i'll even post again in the near future! ;)
