Kairosnews
Gmail Themes
Is anybody else having fun with the new gmail themes? I am really impressed with some of them, especially the retro "Terminal." On a related note, is anyone using the gmail video or voice chat? How does it compare to Skype?
Survey of Open Source Adoption and Usage
Greetings. We are conducting a preliminary online survey aimed at assessing the role of open source software in the scholarly and pedagogical practices of the Rhetoric & Composition and English Studies community. As a scholar and teacher of Rhetoric & Composition and/or of English Studies, you are being invited to participate in this survey. Please take a few moments to respond to this very brief ten-question survey on the subject at the link provided below.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates
Newly co-published by Furtherfield and The Hyperliterature Exchange: an appreciation of David Daniels, the great shape-poet, who died in May 2008.
"Daniels is one of those figures who straddles the divide between digital and pre-digital art and literature... His art is about liberation, uninhibited outpouring, spontaneity and fun."
To read the whole article, go to http://www.hyperex.co.uk/reviewdaniels.php .
Between--Weird Game from Jason Rohrer
I just found a link to Between, an interesting-sounding game published by Esquire. Here's the snip:
Beyond Bootcamp Multimedia Workshops
Rich Beckman, the new Knight Chair of Visual Journalism at the School of Communication at the University of Miami, started a series of multimedia workshops at his former institution, University of North Carolina. He's relaunching them at UM. While the main focus is on journalism, these intensive courses also look interesting for computers & writing folk, so here's the link for the website describing them and giving registration information. Also, what could be better than Miami in January?
Creative Writing and Comp Jobs (Tenure-Track) at Seton Hill University
Seton Hill University seeks published novelist of popular fiction (preferably mystery/suspense), to teach and to mentor novel-length theses in the graduate low-residency Writing Popular Fiction program (half-load), and to teach undergraduate courses in creative writing and first-year composition.
Candidates should hold a Ph.D. in English, MFA considered. Background in journalism, publishing, and/or editing a plus. Teaching experience/potential at undergraduate level desirable.
CFP [collection] Metamorphosis:The Effects of Professional Development on Graduate Students
Reminder -- Proposals Due November 30th
http://digitalcelt.com/CFP_Metamorphosis.pdf
Call for Essays on Graduate Student Professional Development
The Puzzle Box, Chapter 10
"Urizen is trapped by his own laws. He no longer truly believes in anything outside himself. His only way of relating to the outside world is either to fear it or to steal something from it. He has turned the infinite possibilities of the human heart into a little machine of self-interest. And because of that, his life is a life without hope.”
In search of Dora's box, the children find their way right to the heart of Urizen's headquarters, and discover something entirely different from what they were expecting.
Writeroom: If you still miss your typewriter
My friend Bill sent me a link this morning to Writeroom:
WriteRoom is designed for distraction free writing. If you are looking for a programmer's text editor or tool to help you manage large writing projects then there are better choices. If you need syntax highlighting and command line integration try TextMate. If you need to manage large writing projects try Scrivener. If you just need to block out distractions and write then I think WriteRoom is a great choice.
Reminder: Karos Special Issue CFP: dot mil (November 1, 2008)
Just a reminder that proposals for the Kairos special issue on rhetoric and the military are due November 1, 2008.
Some Fun Games for the Holidays
With the holiday break coming up, I thought ya'll might appreciate some tips on some fun, non-violent adventure games to wile away those lonely wintry hours.
Howard Rheingold Starts a "Social Classroom"
Read/Write/Web reports on Rheingold's new project--the "Social Classroom." According to the story, it is "an open-source Drupal-based web service to teachers and students for the purpose of introducing social media into the classroom."
So, is this anything more that a Drupal distribution designed for learning and teaching? I think a lot of us who use Drupal-based sites already do that stuff. Perhaps I am missing something.
OpenOffice 3.0 Released for Linux, Windows, Mac
OpenOffice 3.0 has been released. In addition to the traditional Windows and Linux versions, Mac fans will be glad to hear that there is now a native OSX version. See Ars Technica for more details or go straight to the download page.
Teaching and Research Assistants Collective Bargaining Rights Act
Please consider signing the "PETITION IN SUPPORT OF THE TEACHING AND RESEARCH ASSISTANTS COLLECTIVE BARGAINING RIGHTS ACT." This bill would "amend the National Labor Relations Act to restore collective bargaining rights to teaching and research assistants at private universities and colleges." Further, this is a public bill and petitions so anyone, non-teachers and students, programmers, anyone, can sign this petition.
CCCCs' Use of the Web
t's a little late to try to circulate this ad (deadline is tomorrow), but I'm going to do it anyway. CCCC is looking for a web editor:
The Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) is seeking applications from CCCC members for a new position as CCCC Web Editor (to be distinguished from CCC Online Archivist). The CCCC Web Editor’s term will be three years (non-renewable) beginning as soon as possible after the application deadline and ending in December of 2011. This is a volunteer position.
Actual programming or Web building is not required. Instead, the CCCC Web Editor will have the responsibility of orchestrating uses of new Web building structures made available in the coming months (e.g., blogs, Wikis, Face Book and so on), moderating new community spaces, publishing relevant information, and working with NCTE/CCCC to develop a stronger Website with new features. We anticipate that after the initial restructuring period, no more than 5 to 10 hours per month will be required of the Web Editor's time.
Persons interested in applying for the CCCC Web Editor position should send a cover letter of application to be received no later than October 1, 2008. The applicant letter should be accompanied by the applicant's CV, one sample of published writing, and a one-page statement of the applicant's vision for transforming the CCCC Website into an active community space. Two reference letters from CCCC members attesting to the applicant's qualifications can be sent under separate cover. Please do not send books, monographs, or other materials that cannot be easily copied for the Search Committee.
Applications should be mailed to Kristen Suchor, CCCC Web Editor Search Committee, NCTE, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096; faxed to (217) 328-0977; or emailed to cccc@ncte.org.
I originally intended to post this as a "be part of the solution" exhortation, as several of us have expressed criticism of how CCCC has used the web in the past. For example, when they started a blog, some of us weren't impressed. I took a look at the CCCC blog right before writing this post, though, and I was very impressed. The blog had lain fallow throughout late 2006, all of 2007, and the first half of 2008, but now Joyce Middleton has started a series of posts titled Conversations on Diversity. She's featuring essay-length posts by -- so far -- Victor Villanueva, Krista Ratcliffe, Malea Powell, Paul Kei Matsuda, Haivan Hoang, Jonathan Alexander, and Mike Rose. Check it out; I will very likely be assigning this series of posts in my pedagogy classes.
Cross-posted at CultureCat.
CFP: 4Cs Computer Connection (November 1, 2008)
The Computer Connection, a project of the CCCC Committee on Computers in Composition (7Cs), seeks submissions for short presentations and workshops to be delivered at the Conference on College Composition and Communication in San Francisco, CA, March 11-14, 2009. The CC presentations will be offered during sessions A-D on Thursday, March 12, and sessions F-H on the morning of Friday, March 13.
Up, up and away
Adam Thierer in Technology Liberation Front has a nice overview of the recent raft of books on the internet. Thierer presents a schema grouping optimists and pessimists, and books by their beliefs/themes.
CFP [collection] Metamorphosis:The Effects of Professional Development on Graduate Students
Call For Essays
Metamorphosis: The Effects of Professional Development on Graduate Students
Editors: Andréa Davis and Suzanne Webb
Bill Gates on Open Source
I borrowed a copy of Programmers at Work and found some pretty good comments in there from the Bill Gates interview. It's harder than heck to get a copy of this book--I ILL'ed it, and then they only let me keep it for a week. But here's the quotations. These are either from 1986 or 1989; my guess is the interview was closer to the former.
Is studying computer science the best way to prepare to be a programmer?
Gates: No, the best way to prepare is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their operating system.
You've got to be willing to read other people's code, then write your own, then have other people review your code. You've got to want to be in this incredible feedback loop where you get the world-class people to tell you what you're doing wrong.
Kairos Is Hiring!
Kairos is hiring! Would you like to join our journal? All positions are unpaid volunteer positions.
We have immediate openings for two qualified candidates for the position of Praxis Assistant Editor.
We have an immediate opening for a qualified candidate for the position of Reviews Assistant Editor.
