Archive: The Gnovis Blog
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Cultural Studies Under Fire
A debate started last month in the Chronicle of Higher Education with the publication of Michael Berube’s article “What’s the Matter with Cultural Studies?” His article was the spark that set fire to a debate (although not new by any means) over the significance of Cultural Studies programs. Has Cultural Studies positively impacted the University?
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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The Weekly Round-Up: H1N1 Vaccine Safety
As the vaccine for the virus formally known as “swine flu” finally hit the streets last week, the blogosphere and the news media grappled with public uneasiness over the H1N1 vaccine. Worried that your autumn sniffles could be a sign of something more serious to come? Not sure if you or your child should get the vaccine? It seems you’re not alone. Polling data, parent groups and even Bill Maher are considered in this edition of the Weekly Round-Up.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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the problem with capitalization
The recent CNN article “Does your social class determine your online network” shed light on a theory that media ethnographer danah boyd developed several years ago after Facebook went public in 2006 – a theory that has been hovering over the past two years in CMC (computer-mediated communication) academic circles. boyd’s research on teenage computer-mediated social networking habits revealed a class-based shift from Myspace to Facebook after 2006.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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gnovis Event: Why We Publish, and Why You Should Too!
Today, gnovis hosted a session entitled “Why We Publish, and Why You Should Too!” from 3-4pm in Car Barn 311. Joining us was a well-published panel of professors from CCT: Professors Jeanine Turner, Michael Coventry, Matthew Tinkcom, and David Ribes. The faculty joined the gnovis staff and 30 students to discuss why they publish (and why we should, too!). Below are some highlights of the evening’s panel.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Publishing, Blogging and You!
Come join gnovis for a discussion about the importance of publishing on Thursday, October 15th at 3pm in the Car Barn-Room 311 (CCT Conference Room).
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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MA Thesis: The 'Good,' the Bad and the Ugly
I’m a couple months away from my MA thesis deadline and, naturally, I change my central question as often as I do my underwear – maybe more so. The latest question has spiraled into a number of unmanageable sub-questions, and the unlimited Sangria brunch I consumed on Saturday failed to bring me any steps closer to answering them (though I did manage to pen a rather unintelligible paragraph or two when I got home). So I’d like to pose the most pressing of these questions to gnovis.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Digital Storytelling and the Future of the Book
In the past week, I’ve come across several examples of new products and services that illustrate the transformation that’s underway in how we read books and tell stories. Here’s a quick overview of what’s out there:
Just this past week, the Walt Disney Company launched DisneyDigitalBooks.com, an online book service that gives its target audience of 3 to 12 year olds access to the electronic versions of over 500 of Disney’s books.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Weekly Round-Up: AT&T, Google, and the FCC Go Toe-to-Toe
Is Google Voice a true telecom service to be held accountable by FCC guidelines? AT&T seems to think so. At the end of September, AT&T sent the FCC a complaint as to Google’s tendency to block certain rural areas from coverage, breaking from FCC policy. Should web applications and services that are continuously blurring the lines between phone and internet service be under the jurisdiction of the FCC? The back and forth debate intensifies this week….
Here’s the story, the response, and the blogosphere’s analysis:
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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The Impossibility of Having a Mindful Day
I think having a “mindful day” is more important and more impossible than ever before. When I look at my daily routines, I spot a billion things that counteract against my will to be mindful. Before ranting about these, I will first provide a definition of mindfulness.
Mindfulness is a Buddhist concept/practice. In The Emb
odied Mind , Fransico Varela and co-authors define mindfulness as “…to experience what one’s mind is doing as it does it, to be present with one’s mind.” One definition I heard from someone was along the lines of “… a non-judgmental awareness of the immediate experience.” My definition is “Being present at the moment.”Category: The Gnovis Blog
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A Conversation with Former gnovis Contributor and CCT Student, Jeff Borenstein
In last Spring’s issue of gnovis, CCT student Jeff Borenstein contributed a paper on the role of cell phones and citizen journalism during the London bombings in 2005. In “Camera Phone Images: How The London Bombings in 2005 Shaped the Form of News ”, Jeff examines how social conditions, theory and technological climates intertwine to result in global phenomena. This week, I sat down with Jeff to discuss his research, the state of the news media, his work with gnovis a
Category: The Gnovis Blog