Archive: The Gnovis Blog
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Whistling Toward Dover: Eight Years Later and Measuring the Dover Test
Afghanistan is the graveyard of once mighty armies. The Mongols led by Genghis Khan invaded the region in the 13th century and continued fighting for control of the land for five centuries until overthrown in the 1700s. The Soviets came and went in a little less time, approximately eight years during which the communist empire collapsed. Then, there was the United States who eight years ago this week embarked on a conflict that today gets bloodier by the day.
President Barack Obama recently told congressional leaders there would be neither a surge (like in Iraq) nor a pullout (like in Vietnam). There have been 400 coalition deaths this year alone – more than the first five years of the conflict combined. The young administration, cognizant of the drag that can be caused by unending conflict, must be fearful of the all-to-recognizable Dover Test. Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Weekly Round-Up: Beefy Concerns
Bloggers from subject areas as diverse as cooking, law, business and sustainability are “broiling” today over a New York Times article that suggests ground beef is not as safe as it should be. The article, tracing both questionable industry practices and holes in federal oversight, is providing juicy fodder (no pun intended) for the blogosphere:
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Making some time to think
Loneliness, tenderness, high society, notoriety.
You fight for the throne and you travel alone
Unknown as you slowly sink
And there’s no time to think.
~ Bob DylanThe lyrics above reflect Bob Dylan’s sentiments, after his Christian conversion, towards fame, youthful ambitions
and rock and roll life style in the late 1970’s. For a folk singer-song writer the lyrics above reflect Bob Dylan’s sentiments, after his Christian conversion, towards fame, who analogized social conformity to being turned into a machine, the dramatic expression – that time is speeding up beyond our grasp – is totally fitting. Category: The Gnovis Blog
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The Future of Collaboration Begins with Visualizing Human Capital
How can the power and scope of social networks, combined with human capital metrics, be used to facilitate shared creation and innovation?
It’s becoming more accepted that collaboration, not competition, is a more effective avenue towards producing emergent, innovative results. Now that millions of people participate in online social networks, it seems high time to develop a system of matching people’s skill sets with common values and goals in order to bring about positive change.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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The Choice Is Yours (sort of): The Cleveland Show or Nothing
Yesterday I watched The Cleveland Show , a spinoff of Fox’s Family Guy. It wasn’t very funny to me. In fact, it was predictable.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a Family Guy fan. I enjoy its particularly irreverent sense of humor, despite its stereotypical racism. But nothing about The Cleveland Show struck me as funny.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Weekly Round-Up: The Gender Gap Strikes Wikipedia
From technophiles to technophobes, the internet was abuzz this week about a Time Magazine report , claiming that women constitute a paltry 13% of Wikipedia editors, while 87% are men.
So much for the Internet being a great equalizer? Bloggers, scholars, and journalists weigh in on the implications:
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Whistleblowing Goes Viral: Amateur Videos Shine A Spotlight on Corporate Ethics
What happens when you combine a disgruntled consumer, a recording device, and a distribution platform? A PR mess and a crack at social justice!
There have been forums online for years now that have acted as sounding boards for customers and employees who felt they’ve been wronged by a corporate monolith (think walmartsucks.org , verizonpathetic.com , allstateinsurancesucks.com ), but we seem to be entering the era of video complaints now.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Sometimes you’re filmed like a Nut (or ACORN)
Citizen journalism has struck again and the nut doesn’t fall far from the tree. The Association of Community Organization for Reform Now (ACORN) has come under withering criticism for a series of videos purportedly showing undercover conservative activists attempting to receive advice on how to cheat the system and obtain government-sponsored housing for a brothel.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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The Anti-Trust Factor
In the post-Watergate America it used to be that citizens were distrustful of government and relied on the media for enlightenment and accountability. Today, more than half of Americans are distrustful of the media , begging the question of who (or what) we’ll turn to for government accountability – the watchdog role that the ‘Fourth Estate’ has historically filled.
Category: The Gnovis Blog
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Interdisciplinary Blogging: NYTimes Happy Days blog
In this, my second year working for Gnovis blog, the team has been thinking through the purpose and structure of our blogging. What is academic blogging? Toward what objective do we participate? What will the gnovis ‘brand’ of blogging look like? (much more on these question in the future)
Category: The Gnovis Blog