Group items tagged

This short article begins the discussion of what role the Digital Humanities will play when Google comes out with glasses that have cameras built in that will enable "real-time geolocation, facial recognition software, the journaling and storing in the cache and third-party's servers of everywhere you go and see whilst wearing the glasses." He questions how we can use these gadgets to our benefit while still protecting human rights and freedom of speech.

I really like the black-and-white photo in this article that shows the group of people wearing 3D glasses--that's exactly the visual I had in my head while reading this article. It's kind of unsettling to think that that image could become an everyday reality in the not-so-distant future.

This is the entry point for the work of Loss Pequeno Glazier, what the text notes as a unique online work in which text is generated every ten seconds. I really needed some kind of visualization of this since description just doesn't quite get me there. Click begin to try it out

Oh snap... This could be interesting.

Interesting concept of books as an app. I find it interesting that these textbooks are not being "written" but "developed".

This article talks about an alternative to SOPA and PIPA written by Reddit users. There's a link to the Reddit community and Google document they're working on. Although it's difficult for me to see how this document could impact/influence any actual legislation, redditors have had some success making waves in the past. After GoDaddy announced its support for SOPA, Reddit users staged a boycott. GoDaddy ultimately changed its position.

Kirby Ferguson's theory of creativity goes hand-in-hand with some of the concepts presented in Goldsmith's Uncreative Writing. Ferguson argues that copying is one of the key elements in creativity. Hunter S. Thompson, for example, retyped A Farewell to Arms and The Great Gatsby.

In our last class (I think it was last class), Sandy mentioned the Electronic Book Review. This is the search results for "Electronic Literature Collection" on the website. As he mentioned, not all works deal with electronic literature; however, a huge majority of the essays engage in discussions that are highly relevant to the discussions we are having in class. I'll also bookmark a couple of key essays and give a short blurb as to why I think you all might want to check them out.

One of my favorite typography websites ...

... and another one of my favorite typography websites.

This guest post by Richard Price (founder and CEO of Academia.edu) addresses a bill called "The Research Works Act" intended to "restrict public access to publicly-funded research." Price points out that over 5,500 academics have signed a boycott of Elsevier, the largest academic publisher and one of the main sponsors. Several companies in the journal industry, however, argue that they've historically supported themselves by charging for access to research papers and that the government's open access mandate threatens their industry's sustainability by encouraging research institutions to stop subscribing to the journals and just wait to get the research for free.

another plug for e-texts

... and some more themes. Places you could pay to get the theme, but also you could look at it for ideas and the design it yourself.

... and my text became a hyperlink.

A Tumblr page that has updates with information on design, editing, typography, etc.

This article examines how Red Hat transitioned from free open source software to a system they sell through a subscription with updates, patches, and bug fixes. Red Hat still provides free code, though; a community project called Fedora provides "a testing ground for the enterprise features delivered to Red Hat's paying customers," allowing both the company and the users to benefit from collaboration. This article shows the balance of sustainability between free and paid access. It also echoes Kenneth Goldman's claims in Uncreative Writing because the CEO says, "If you believe in the concept of modular innovation where a lot of different people add to works that came before them, patents clearly slow that down."

Going back to an older discussion, I thought some might be interested in this article. It puts forward ideas for how copyright issues could be addressed. The website in full might also be interesting to some.

I don't have much experience with video games (I still rock out with Sonic on my Sega Genesis), but this could be a gateway game for me. I love the concept of adapting and crossing lines of genres and mediums, but it's interesting to note some of the dramatic differences and losses that must take place in translation. In this example there are some real game changers (I'm not sorry for the pun) involving plot and narrative. It's as if Dante has suddenly been inspired by Mario and must save the princess from the castle. I wonder what the equivalent of Yoshi would look like in the 7th ring of Hell...

This article addresses whether or not learning new programming languages is worth the time and energy. According to the article, learning new languages (1) expands your ability to use several different approaches to solve problems, (2) might teach you techniques that carry over to old languages, (3) exposes you to new communities, (4) provides additional marketable skills, and (5) stimulates your mind. At the end, one user stipulates that he only learns a language when it "has enough maturity, has a good developer base, and offers significantly different outcomes from the others I know."

Apocalypse of mediocrity or community of readers as writers? And who decides what counts as boring?

Codecademy is the easiest way to learn how to code. It's interactive, fun, and you can do it with your friends.

I have messed around with this, and I think I came near graduating the free class that they offer. It was useful, but I didn't find that it got me too far into javascript. I did find that I liked the points and badges. Did you see the pay option alternative site (I think linked off Code Academy somewhere ... or it comes up when you search Google for Code Academy) where you can learn various coding languages as you play games? One of them teaches you CSS or Javascript as you fight zombies. If you didn't have to pay ... I would totally get into that. :)

Oddly enough, one of my favorite bloggers, Nathan Bransford, tackled the concept of the blog bubble bursting, which is interesting. His argument isn't as important here as the massive conversation below it.