Else-If-Then

Category: Research

  • "Appropriate " use of Facebook and similar sites

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    Kim
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    In a recent talk, Danah Boyd said that she doesn’t use these social networking sites the way teenagers do, nor should she. Now the first point is inarguable, but the second struck me as rather odd. I don’t see that there is any “should” about it. I mean, call me immature, but while yes, I…

  • Book Project Update

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    Kim
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    So I guess I do have a book project; it’s official. –By that I mean that I’m applying for grants to fund the research. So far I’ve applied to be nominated for an NEH Summer stipend; every campus gets to nominate only two, so I have to be selected for nomination before I can even…

  • I am a "third back-up"

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    Kim
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    No, I’m not talking about computers. A friend’s wife is expecting a baby and they already have a little girl who is about 18 months old, so when the baby comes, I am 3rd in line to watch the little girl. –of the three of us on the list, my own kids are youngest, so…

  • The transformation of Literary and Media Studies

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    Kim
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    Finally I have a chance to finish my report on Katherine Hayles; I’m sure you must all be relieved, waiting with baited breath as you were. Or weren’t you? tsk tsk. Well, I will finish it for my own satisfaction then. After laying out her argument for human-computer interaction being an example of intermediation, or…

  • More on Hayles

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    Kim
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    Ok, so having introduced the idea of emergent complexity and it’s requirements, Hayles next started talking about analogies as pattern recognition. She reminded us of Douglas Hofstader’s claim that all “cognition is recognition.” If recognizing patterns is what leads to understanding analogies, well so what? She gave some examples first of human ability to understand…

  • A brief interruption of the timeline…

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    Kim
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    Before I finish reporting on Worm, I have to pause and catch up on some earlier stuff, before I forget everything, so this entry will be on Katherine Hayles’ keynote speech at the Re-mediating Literature conference that I covered very generally a few posts back. Ok, she had a really clearly laid out talk with…

  • at de Waag Society for Old and New Media

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    Kim
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    Today I went to visit de Waag and met with Bart Tunnissen and Sher Doruff who are finance manager and head of the research dissemination program, respectively. This was an interesting meeting because de Waag takes a very different approach from either Piet Zwart or V2; though they conduct research they are not academic and…

  • Alex Adriaansen at V2_

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    Kim
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    This afternoon I had a lengthy meeting with Alex Adriaansen, director at V2_ ; he could not have been more generous with his time or forthcoming with his views about the context for New Media studies in the Netherlands or the challenges they face. So I will note it all down before I forget! First,…

  • Reflections on New Media/Cyberculture studies

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    Kim
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    During the first conference and in many of my conversations with people connected to Piet Zwart, the question keeps coming up about what exactly we are all doing in this field. Should we be studying the technology? The creative practices? The sociology? Thank God I’m in rhetoric–there’s nothing like a meta-field to happily encompass interests…

  • Later last Friday

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    Kim
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    So those first parallel sessions ran so late–well, the whole schedule was already running behind–that when we got down to lunch there was almost none left, and by the time it was refilled, I had about 5 minutes to eat before I had to find the session where I was speaking. But I did find…