Tag Archive
Taxing Oil for Education
Today I’ve taken my first year composition class to hear a talk by state assemblyman Alberto Torrico about AB656, a bill that would create a tax on oil and gasoline produced in the state, to fund public education. Logical arguments offered in favor of funding higher ed: for every dollar spent on higher ed., more than... »
As I make my way through the first week…
I notice that my students are far more focused on “serious issues,” compared even to last semester. As Higher Ed. suffers more cuts, tuition rises, and as health care reform has stalled, they seem to not only be looking harder at all issues, but looking hard at many issues. Many seem to have realized... »
Center for Innovation, Creativity and Access to Knowledge
We, a broad coalition from over 20 countries, of hundreds of thousands of citizens, users, consumers, organizations, artists, hackers, members of the free culture movement, economists, lawyers, teachers, students, researchers, scientists, activists, workers, unemployed, entrepreneurs, creators… We invite all citizens to make this Charter theirs, share it and put it into practice. We invite all governments,... »
Critiquing Matthew Hindman’s “The Myth of Digital Democracy” | techPresident
Last night political scholar Micah Sifry debated Matthew Hindman at Yale; prior to the debate he published this preview of his response to Hindman’s article. He challenges Hindman on both his generalizations, and his neglect of technologies that don’t fit the pessimistic view. Critiquing Matthew Hindman’s “The Myth of Digital Democracy” | techPresident. »
Political Freedom? Or Misguided Google?
Hindman picks apart political freedom on the internet. Is our society really democratic now that people can say whatever they want or are people more controlled by the internet by unclear gatekeepers? What’s funny is that politicians saw only the good of the internet towards their political greed that they could reach more voters and... »
Inaugural Rhetoric
Political rhetoric is one of the oldest kinds around, and presidential rhetoric has received plenty of attention itself, but semantic analysis tools are adding some new possibilities for how we study and visualize this material. Within minutes of President Obama’s inaugural speech text being posted online, it had been run through a term-cloud generator... »