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October 31, 2003
Charting and Bridging Digital Divides
Wenhong Chen & Barry Wellman's Charting and Bridging Digital Divides: Comparing Socio-economic, Gender, Life Stage, and Rural-Urban Internet Access and Use in Eight Countries is now available online."
Posted by jason at 04:05 PM
Death to Creative Expression: Girl expelled for journal entry changes school
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- A 14-year-old student disciplined for writing a fictional account of a student who falls asleep in class and dreams of killing a teacher is moving to another school, her father told CNN Thursday. Rachel Boim was expelled from school after writing a fictional account of a student who falls asleep in class and dreams of killing a teacher. Read the full text. I don't know what to say about this except that KAT! should hide her flash vids when travelling. Seriously, what would happen if they saw the Project Achieve data files (luckily protected by ethical guidelines), or blog entries. Livejournal should, I guess be banned as dangerous by schools? That would go for instant messages too. School teachers should now have to teach ""right-think"" to everyone so that they will not have any bad thoughts about anyone any more, during school hours."
Posted by jason at 07:16 AM
October 30, 2003
Telling Tales Over Time: Constructing and Deconstructing the School Calendar
Joel Weiss and Rob Brown's long awaited article ""Telling Tales Over Time: Constructing and Deconstructing the School Calendar"" finally came out in TCrecord, the journal of Columbia Teacher's College. You must register to read it, but it is free to register, and well worth reading. Yay Joel! Click below to read the abstract: The September-to-June school calendar has been a fixture of North America for almost a century. Its origins have usually been told as an unexamined tale attributed to features of nineteenth century rural society. We challenge this interpretation by suggesting that multiple pressures arising from increasing urbanization influenced its roots. We present information on the importance of the summer holiday in the development of compulsory schooling in several North American jurisdictions, with the main evidence from Ontario, the most populous province in Canada. We suggest, along with Gold (2002), that this development had wider applicability in several Northeastern and Midwestern American states. Beyond the issue of having an accurate story line, we examine why there has been such resistance in recent times to changing the school year. The school calendar may be another example of an enduring institutional form referred to by Tyack and Tobin as a úgrammar of schoolingî that resisted fundamental change in the twentieth century. Viewing the school calendarˆs ties with changes over time in the construction of other clocks of society may enable us to rethink the format of the contemporary school calendar. Finally, we consider the school calendar as part of a larger, ongoing discussion of what constitutes effectiveness of schools."
Posted by jason at 03:19 PM
October 29, 2003
Livejournal.utoronto.ca
I've just installed a livejournal server at uoft with the help of Brad Whitaker, one of the LJ developers, and James Wilson in meds. Special thanks goes out to Derrick de Kerckhove, Michael Edmunds, Mark Federman from the McLuhan Program, and Lawrence Spero (Pharmacology) for helping me make it happen. More info will follow, but please, if you want to help out, let me know, either with a comment here, or by email. The goal is to offer blogging to the entire unviversity community, and I can't do it alone. Thanks. And no, the address is not http://livejournal.utoronto.ca, yet."
Posted by jason at 09:53 AM
October 27, 2003
Two Faces of Transylvania... and one of my photos
Just got an email from Lokke Heiss to say that his article The Two Faces of Transylvania has been published by the New York Daily News. The picture in the middle of Dracula's birth place is one that I took. I'm pretty sure. Just waiting for the cheque to come in to be sure. I am sure... here's the original"
Posted by jason at 11:51 PM
flyblogging = Blogspam
Spam Rapidly Increasing In Weblog Comments notes that BBC News has a nice article discussing 'flyblogging', the phenomenon of spammers leaving advertising-related posts on personal weblogs. And there are some comments on tools. Interestingly enough, Live Journal has built in antispam tools. You can set your journal so that only users with accounts can comment. Too much trouble for spammers. And of course this LJ facility also means that you know who is reading/commenting, and you can read them back, easily enough. I've had to turn off some of the comments functions on my MT because of the spamm... did it last month."
Posted by jason at 01:29 PM
Flailing in the Burka
The Clever Girl has a new blog image that rocks as much as her posts do."
Posted by jason at 07:51 AM
October 25, 2003
The Ugly Building Cam... Hijacked!!!
If you go to Artsnetwork.tv and click about, you'll find my OCAD ugly building Cam. No one told me, and I've been using the feed for other things... like pictures of the inside of my apartment."
Posted by jason at 06:22 PM
October 24, 2003
UofT Bulletin on Blogs
... and me. No one told me, until barry mentioned it just today, that the UofTBulletin (pdf) has a nice article on blogs that mentions me. You think they'd have contacted me or something, but no, I guess enough of my life is on the blog that contacting wouldn't make any difference. Here's the text: Net News Getting Blogged Down By Audrey Fong IN CASE YOU HAVENˆT HEARD ABOUT THE úHOTTESTî THING IN THE EVERchanging Internet subculture, a significant number of Internet users are jumping on the blog bandwagon. Although some portray blogging Ä a daily web log or journal Ä as a faddish digital phenomena, others believe it is here to stay. In fact some academics like Jason Nolan, lecturer and scholar-in-residence at the Knowledge Media Design Institute, have been blogging for years. Others, such as Professor Henry Farrell of political science at U of T at Scarborough, are fairly new to blogging. úBlogs are pretty much what you make of them. They are clearly flexible in their interpretation, manifestation, implementation and distribution,î Nolan said. Nolan, who views keeping a daily web log as an empowering communications medium, has been doing it for over two years. úBack in 1994, the World Wide Web was going to give everyone access to their own web page and the potential for them to have an online presence,î he said. úIˆve seen how hard it is for the average individual to negotiate all the aspects of maintaining a web presence, even without considering the difficulty of conceptualizing and organizing content.î Many academics see blogs as potentially useful teaching, learning and research tools. They can be used to update course information and provide journaling and/or research tools for students as well as the ability for researchers to share information with colleagues. úBlogs are a valuable sounding board for ideas at their early stages,î Nolan added. Farrell also sees many advantages of blogging for academics. úItˆs a medium that allows one to give forth on issues of interest without having to write academic articles or go through the pain of getting op-eds accepted by papers with wide circulation.î Although Farrell sees blogging as a congenial way to mix scholarship and his interest in current affairs, literature and various other topics, he hopes to incorporate a blogging component into a course next spring. Nolan is currently researching problems with blogs Ä whoˆs actually doing it and identifying the cultural biases of blog technologies. To view Nolanˆs blog, click on http://jasonnolan.net/; Farrellˆs blog is at http://www.henryfarrell.net/blog/."
Posted by jason at 05:48 PM
October 23, 2003
Enriched Bread Artists 11th Annual Open Studio
Enriched Bread Artists 11th Annual Open Studio Opening: Thursday, October 23, 6-9 p.m. Continues: Fridays: October 24 and 31, 6-9 p.m. Saturdays: October 25 and November 01, 11 a.m. -5 p.m. Sundays: October 26 and November 02, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Kenneth's Artist Talk/Performance: Saturday, November 1 at 1 pm 951 Gladstone Ave (west of Preston) Ottawa, Ontario Info: 613-729-7632 Web: www.artengine.ca Admission is free. Housed in the former Standard Bread Factory building, the Enriched Bread Artists Studio is one of the most dynamic spaces on Ottawa's contemporary visual art scene. Since 1992 this group of 20 artists has opened its doors inviting the public to tour the studio and gallery spaces at 951 Gladstone Avenue. As part of the open studio, Kenneth will present a combination of an artist talk and performance focusing on his work in progress exploring the intersection of sculpture and dance. This will take place on November 1 at 1 pm Kenneth gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $1.7 million in interdisciplinary work and performance art throughout Canada"
Posted by jason at 07:52 PM
Dracula's Birthplace...
Just sent this picture off to a New York based newspaper. They want to use it in a story, it seems. It is of the birthplace of Vlad Tepesh's (Dracula) birth place. The house was owned by his father Vlad Dracul. It is now a restaurant. "
Posted by jason at 08:08 AM
October 22, 2003
My most popular post...
Exactly a year ago today, October 22, 2002, I posted an entry about shii's song on my blog. I've had comments on it ever since, as late as 4 days ago. I just want to commemorate that busy topic..."
Posted by jason at 10:51 AM
October 21, 2003
Oct. 31: Nosferatu
The Toronto Sinfonietta performs live orchestral musical selections from Mozart, Bartok and Kodaly as accompaniment to 16 mm screening of Nosferatu (1922), the quintessential silent vampire film directed by legendary German director FW Murnau, and featuring Max Schreck as Count Dracula."""
Posted by jason at 06:39 PM
October 20, 2003
ECE Annotated Bookmarks Assignment
Just made up a neat Annotated Bookmarks assignment for my early childhood education students at RyersonU. If anyone else does these kinds of assignments, and wants to check it over and make suggestions, I'd appreciate it. It is not something I've done before, and couldn't find any exemplars."
Posted by jason at 12:19 PM
October 19, 2003
Done
Entered my last post on the AoIR blog for this year. I'll leave the feed on until at least midnight for people to post their little posts... I hope that they're having good thoughts about what was really a pretty good conference."
Posted by jason at 03:13 PM
Crazy conference...
Well, the strange thing is is that I've not had much chance to blog. I've been tooo busy. Most with doing ad hoc tech support; lending out my computer to folks, converting file types, and even setting my computer up as a basestation at one point. Check the conference blog feed to see what everyone's been saying/doing. And I'll see what I can catch this morning."
Posted by jason at 08:49 AM
Gala Dinner
I actually went to my first conference Gala dinner... and enjoyed it. I know it was the general crowd, and my table in particular. Though it was extremely loud for someone as hard of hearing as I am, most of the shouts got through. When I got in there was only one table left that wasn't full. Just two folks quietly chatting until we joined. It was Gary Natriello and Brian (forgot to get his full name) of TCRecord at Columbia. I'd never met them, but I quickly realized that this was GARY from TC Record. Joel Weiss is getting a big honking article on the history of the school year published with them, and Gary's doing something for our handbook. We just had room to fit in keynote speaker and collective intelligence d00d Pierre Levy, Daria (forgot to get her full name), and Barbara Reinhalter, who also works at TCRecord. Oh, we are Katie and Brandon Barr. After dinner, and some all so fun and short speeches, we all headded off. ""We"" ran in to Bernie and Tracy Kennedy netwoman and were invited up to a party in room ****. Katie, Brandon and I took off on a strange combination of above and belowground walking paths, through the rain, to get to the LCBO at Yonge and Dundas, not only to find that it was closed, but that it was 10pm. So, undaunted we hopped into a cab up to the Summerhill LCBO, which is about the size of a football field. Stocked up with stuff, andheadded back down to room ****, for a bit of a party. At this point, I'll mention no names... or what happened, or where brandon got those 6 glasses. But **** happened until we were all politely turfed out of the room... and I turned away from a group working their way along Queen Street at McCaul, and know not where they went."
Posted by jason at 08:43 AM
An Internet First...
Barry Wellman blogged! And I have witnesses. I'll dig up a picture to prove it as well."
Posted by jason at 08:10 AM
October 16, 2003
Broadening the Blog I & II: Thoughts
Thoughts on the morning... sessions I attended... and presented at... Broadening the Blog I Alex Halavais, Thomas Burg, Cameron Marlow, Matthew Rothenberg I'm not giving a transcript of this presentation, but rather just the thoughts that I have on what I heard. If I misheard, my apologies. I came in late, as I was running around the hotel with ""macStumbler"" checking to see where the wireless network was active. Then I tracked down the apple rep, and found out that he'd not plugged the wireless in yet. Ack. Missed Alex and Thomas Cameron: interesting take away message for his presentation was the problematizing of the notion of blogsphere, and how it made him uncomfortable. Whereas blogdex has become one of the defacto arbiters of who/what is cool, the intention is not the intention. Matthew: Mining the data... me talking about you doesn't make us a community, if you're not aware of me. But metadata and linking and indexing. It is difficult to to let you know who your community is. Strangely enough, the notion of the Livejournal.com doesn't seem to make it on the horizion. Especially the marinel.org/jouel linkage mechanism for LJ. - Matthew noted that he too is getting blogSpam, which has been driving me crazy. That is the same as emailspam but where someone posts multiple comments to your blog, with links to viagra or porn sites. (gak: something borked on my computer and I lost some comments I'd typed on the questions.) Someone said: the maps and mapping of blogging are reductionist misrepresentations. Cameron (response) sees it as individual/individual. - Take away: how has the Internet changed under the influence of blogs, in light of the commodification of the net as a business tool (after 1994) in that the opening of opportunities afforded by blogs for community and communication has so quickly been 'polluted' by spam. Does this mean that every new affordance is infected by spam as soon as it leaves the womb? Broadening the Blog II (~45 participants) Well, I got through my paper, before the time was up... which is strange,since I've talked on a similar number of points in 30 minutes and Elizabeth Lane Lawley ""Cultural Capital Dominance in the Weblog Economy"" - Self-reflexive sociology of Bordieu and the cultural validation/reputation (class and power) and who controls these kinds of environments. She wants to apply Bordieu's model to the context of weblogs: field/habitus/cultural capital. I wish vera was here for this, as she's a big Bordieu fan. http://mommamusings.net Q: what is the cultural capital of the average blogger? - or what is the cultCap of the bloggers we are aware of or conduct inquiry on. Q: are not blogs self reflexive ex officio? Q: anyone studying trash blogs. Some of us want to be beyond the horizion Q: what about livejournal popularity contests of cheesecake photographs "
Posted by jason at 11:59 AM
October 15, 2003
Aoir Test
ignore me
Posted by jason at 10:40 PM
AoIR Blog
KAT, Bernie and I, and hopefully with the help of Bram and Susan, will be running the Aoir blog for the AoIR 2003 conference. I'll be blogging the conference here as well, no doubt, so don't be shocked by a change of content. KAT has whipped up a very cool RSS feed to bring together all the other blogs that are run by attendees of the conference."
Posted by jason at 12:57 PM
Globe Ranking UofT
Globe article on university education says that UofT undergrad sucks and UofT grad rulz. Notice that I only really ever teach Gradschool. Yay me."
Posted by jason at 08:56 AM
October 14, 2003
"October's edition of ""E2K: a journal for the new literary paradigm"" is up!"
E2K: a journal for the new literary paradigm Welcome to the October issue of Net Author's E2K! This issue continues our countdown of the Net Author's Third Annual Flash Fiction Contest winners. If you missed the first and second place stories, please do go back to the last couple of issues (via the Archives link above) and catch them. In this issue, it's a pleasure to showcase the Third Place winner: Sarah Brandel's "Dear and Dearly Beloved." [PS: I'm editor at large on this eRag, thus my pushing it on you...]"
Posted by jason at 11:51 AM
October 12, 2003
Shopping.
I was out doing the proper uncle thing with a neice recently and she found these: Just got some budget choices to make. But I'd do it."
Posted by jason at 04:40 PM
Amherst Island
Yuka and I are off for lunch, with mom, on Amherst island, somewhere off the coast of Kingston. Kingston Ontario, of course."
Posted by jason at 10:38 AM
October 10, 2003
Water or Coke
1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population.) WATER 1. 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. (Likely applies to half the world population.) 2. In 37% of Americans, the thirst mechanism is so weak that it is often mistaken for hunger. 3. Even MILD dehydration will slow down one's metabolism as much as 3%. 4. One glass of water will shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of the dieters studied in a University of Washington study. 5. Lack of water, the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. 6. Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. 7. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computerscreen or on a printed page. 8. Drinking 5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of coloncancer by 45%, plus it can slash the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and one is 50% less likely to develop bladder cancer. Are you drinking the amount of water you should every day? COKE 1. In many states (in the USA) the highway patrol carries two gallons of Coke in the trunk to remove blood from the highway after a car accident. 2. You can put a T-bone steak in a bowl of coke and it will be gone in two days. 3. To clean a toilet: Pour a can of Coca-Cola into the toilet bowl and let the ""real thing"" sit for one hour, then flush clean. The citric acid in Coke removes stains from vitreous china. 4. To remove rust spots from chrome car bumpers: Rub the bumper with a rumpled-up piece of Reynolds Wrap aluminum foil dipped in Coca-Cola. 5. To clean corrosion from car battery terminals: Pour a can of Coca-Cola over the terminals to bubble away the corrosion. 6. To loosen a rusted bolt: Apply a cloth soaked in Coca-Cola to the rusted bolt for several minutes. 7. To bake a moist ham: Empty a can of Coca-Cola into the baking pan, wrap the ham in aluminum foil, and bake. Thirty minutes before the ham is finished, remove the foil, allowing the drippings to mix with the Coke for sumptuous brown gravy. 8. To remove grease from clothes: Empty a can of coke into a load of greasy clothes, add detergent, and run through a regular cycle. The Coca-Cola will help loosen grease stains. It will also clean road haze from your windshield. FOR YOUR INFORMATION: 1. The active ingredient in Coke is phosphoric acid. Its pH is 2.8. It will dissolve a nail in about four days. Phosphoric acid also leaches calcium from bones and is a major contributor to the rising increase in osteoporosis. 2. To carry Coca-Cola syrup (the concentrate) the commercial truck must use the Hazardous Material place cards reserved for highly corrosive materials. 3. The distributors of coke have been using it to clean the engines of their trucks for about 20 years! Now the question is, would YOU prefer a glass of water or coke?\"""
Posted by jason at 04:01 PM
October 09, 2003
Julia says...
among other things, that I need one of these. Anyone buying?"
Posted by jason at 03:53 PM
October 07, 2003
As per Yuka's request
Yuka told me that I need to blog something about this woman. O brave new world that has such people in it."
Posted by jason at 01:50 PM
Obit: Neil Postman
From steve jones on the aoir list:
It is with deep sadness that I inform the list of the death of Neil Postman. Professor of Culture and Communication at New York University, Postman was a leading figure in media ecology and has greatly influenced many media scholars across many disciplines. I am sure that innumerable newspapers and journals will carry well written obituaries and that I cannot hold a candle to those, so I hope that it will suffice to say that I mourn his passing and send my condolences to his family, friends, colleagues, correspondents and readers.I knew he wasn't well, as he'd said so when he passed up our request to contribute to our handbook. They're dropping like flies."
Posted by jason at 12:05 PM
Moving to Megabit
KAT! reminded me and BERNiE that we should reconsider using Megabit for our internet service. I'd used it in the past and had had to stop. Megabit is a service by which your Sympatico ADSL connection is routed directly to the university of Toronto. Many and sundry advantages: better and faster service, not having mail bounce because Sympatico is a spamhaven, access to UofT licensed online services such as the OED and silverplatter search functions... the list goes on and on. I can, by virtue of my facultiness, get a static IP address which will allow me to sync up computers at home and at work. Sometimes tech works."
Posted by jason at 11:58 AM
October 06, 2003
Beat Massive...
One of my old KMDI students, Henry Moller, is performing with BeatMassive at Reverb on Queen tomorrow, if anyone's interested. I can't go,unfortunately."
Posted by jason at 10:11 AM
October 05, 2003
Out and about
Yuka and I did the fall urban thing... chasing small animals around Garrison Creek park. First she chased the pumpkins... Yuka caught a dog.
"
Posted by jason at 09:32 PM
Weekend entertaining...
I finally got to meet Hossein who runs UofT blogs, as well as some Persian language sites. Always nice to meet people you only know of online. And I got to learn more about the trials and tribulations of blogging in Persian. Which nicely compliments my reading of Salam Pax, which I'm really enjoying! We were down at John's Italian, chatting until my next meeting showed up. Elizabeth from Sheridan... and something mysterious we talked about. Saturday JuliaD, and Amy who has not net presence, came over for pizza night, and to talk about some jobs Amy's applying for. Yuka and I did some power shopping at the St Lawrence Market and got some great stuff... For Pizza: fresh peas, wild boar, goat chedder and sheep cheese called Ramenbert (think sheep brie). Julia showed up for an attempted repeat of Ken's great sheep feta and green pea salad, and my attempt was found wanting. Julia brought a wonderful cake which we sprinkled with the last of the year's fresh blueberries, as well as a bottle of cranberry infused wine that I think was banished from her house. Sunday morning, trouble caused, and we're out for a march about town."
Posted by jason at 11:43 AM
October 04, 2003
iSight Cam
Yes, it is the iSight firewire cam! Picked it up yesterday, after talking with Ken of the NRC. The cam works with iChat (AIM for you plebes) and allows for video and audio chatting. It will also work as a blog cam. I plan on using it while KAT!, bernie and I blog the AoIR con this month."
Posted by jason at 08:23 AM
October 02, 2003
Daina Chaviano GUEST SCHOLAR:Marcial Souto
ICFA-25 CALL FOR PAPERS (deadline Oct 15, 2003) 25th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts March 24-28, 2004 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida HERE THERE BE DRAGONS: THE GLOBAL FANTASTIC GUEST OF HONOR:"
Posted by jason at 12:36 PM
October 01, 2003
Instant Messages to the Rescue.
Mainichi Interactive - Abducted school girl uses cell phone to lead police to attacker After she entered the vehicle, he sped off, but the quick-thinking high school girl called her mother on her mobile phone and sent an e-mail. Her father then conveyed the daughter's information to police, and officers spotted the car at about 9:20 p.m., some 30 kilometers from the station. [The English article has less info than the Japanese one. The girl sent all the communications by instant text messages from her cell phone. Yuka notes that this is done by japanese girls, without having to look. A handy skill.]"
Posted by jason at 11:02 AM
Sympatico !help
What a waste of time. Most of you know that Sympatico's SMTP servers are a mess. And that many other ISPs block sympatico mail because Sympatico ends up on lists of ISPs who forward spam. So, I want to use my own SMTP servers. And yes, I have a few up my sleeve. But Sympatico blocks me from talking to my own SMTP servers. My servers which are working, and which do not forward spam. First this wonderfully rude joker, the first wonderfully rude joker that I've communicated with at Sympatico, but no doubt not the last, tells me that I'm wrong, and that sympatico's not blocking port 25. Then after I tell him to check, he says that they are. When I ask for access to documentation describing what the problem is, he puts me on hold for almost 20 minutes, before giving me a web page, that doesn't exist, and forwards you to one of those moronic web sites ""What is email? And how do I send it?"" I'm asking about why they're blocking port 25! I finally, and you heard it first, yelled at him, called him rude and obfuscatory, and that he's wasting my time, and hung up. Now, when's the last time anyone saw me really angry? Probably never. I'm not recommending Sympatico any more. They can kiss my SMTP."
Posted by jason at 10:05 AM
Congrats Kfir!
Kfir Luzzatto, one of the Anthology Editors, and sometimes legal council, at The Harrowhas just had his first book published by Echelon Press: Crossing the Meadow, by Kfir Luzzatto. I like that Echelon does both epublishing and print publishing of books simultaneously. I have to learn more about epublishing..."
Posted by jason at 08:12 AM