data cloud

A very useful metaphor for the information society. Data Cloud

Another class-blog advocate

Blogged Classrooms on The Subtle Knife offers practical uses for blogs in Composition classrooms. The rationale for using blogs falls right into line with my interest in them.

Beene's been blogged!

Lynn Beene is beginning her blog, Beeneblog, using it to catalogue and distribute the Department's Calls for Proposals.

Yay Lynn Beene!

Blog usage

I've met with three people so far.

I've tracked their movements through the posting process, and I think I'm going to customize the posting screen for MT on the English dept install.

Also, I've talked to Matt Allen, who is interested in what might come of the blogged English faculty.

Next step: getting the expense authorized.

Another thesis blogger

Another thesis blogger! How cool is that? Erin Karper's Dissertation

Write once - read in perpetuity

A good object lesson for beginning bloggers is the proliferation of content beyond the control of the original author. Lawmeme published the story of an unlucky pulitzer-prize-winning journalist and her frustration with a piece of private mail going public on a grand scale. Accidental Privacy Spills: Musings on Privacy, Democracy, and the Internet

Why weblogs?

There are a whole host of reasons, some are mine, some are from insightful teachers using blogs in the classroom right now.

• Blogs provide an easy forum for public writing for students without having to teach them .html right off the bat: a forum that they will perhaps participate in outside of the confines of the classroom.
• Blogs educate students about what 'public forum' means on the web, what it means to be an active participant online versus being someone who has information "pushed" to them. The rise of blogging in the public arena suggests that this is the direction online media will be taking; decentralization.
• Blogs bring together disparate pieces of data from a variety of sources. Inherent in that selection process is evaluation of source, which brings into play media theory about gatekeepers and information bias. This becomes more important as the flow of information shifts from the "top-down" model of radio, television, and print media to one of decentralization and aggregation of knowledge as a truth evaluation tool.
• Blogs are, comparably, a level playing field for content creators. Since the website is largely provided, what becomes important is the content, and the use of the given space in creating a forum. It avoids the group experience where the technocrat becomes the de-facto leader of the group, leading content creators to believe that 'content isn't as important'. It also avoids elements of .html development and design completely dominating a class.

'Why Weblogs?' on Kairosnews explains why one teacher sought to use blogs in the classroom.

I appreciate his appreciation for public writing and his understanding that blogs may be one way to get students excited about writing, perhaps to the point where they write more outside of the classroom.

Unlike other public writing forms, blogs are levelling in terms of relationship between teacher and student, providing another prompt to encourage writing.

Teaching across the digital divide

The divide between students and faculty may be deeper then most teachers realize. 'Screen Language': The New Currency for Learning examines ways in which students are more well-versed in digital culture and technology then their instructors, and how instructors may use their students knowledge to inform traditional English coursework.

Anarchist Cookbook for Grad Students

Someday, I'm going to publish a manual of how to really get through graduate school. How to choose a committe, how to prepare for a thesis, how to try to frame your experience before you graduate, and how to articulate your goals before you get out.

Just as soon as I figure these things out, I'm going to put it somewhere for others to read. I might end up publishing it under the name Alan Smithee to assure that I'm not firebombed while blogging one day.

See them run

Since saturday, I've been watching the discussion about the Google/Blogger deal streaming accross the blogosphere. Fully 1/4 of Daypop's Top 40 relates to it. There seems to be an aggregate opinion that this purchase can only be a good thing. It helps that more blogging folks realize that Google is such a great search engine because they have the sheer raw data, and that more data can only make Google better.

The underbelly of that is that Google collects and keeps huge amounts of data about the web. In the wrong hands, that information is a huge privacy violation waiting to happen. And god help you if you put up some embarassing post and remove it, thinking it's all over. Google's cache means that old posts never die...

About Weeblog

I'm Stephanie Holinka

Weeblog documents my search for signs of intelligent life in my head. It's got a goal and a deadline; by December, 2003, I intend to have my Master's Thesis in Professional Writing completed and ready to defend against the thundering hoards (thesis committee). I believe in the power of words, and I intend to harnass that power to keep my procrastinating self on track.

As you might have guessed, my thesis about blogs. Somehow. Ok, I'm not sure yet, but I'm working on it, ok?

On the professional side, I manage media resources for NM EPSCoR.

I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico with my partner and the zoo (Pug, heeler, 2 cats).

In the mean time, I'm using MoveableType as a content manager and head-organizer. I'm using the "acorn" style sheet at blogon.com. I've also installed blogroll to keep track of my links and let me know when things are updated.

I say the word "blogs" aloud. A lot.

You can reach me at steph at theanswergrape dot com. Feel free to mail me. As you might expect, I don't get out much.