Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Jan 17, 2010, 07:58 AM

A research paper is an end product.  A blog is a process.  Substituting one for the other in every class would be as ridiculous as the current one-size-fits-all-requirements of a conventional humanities course.   However, in "This Is Your Brain on the Internet" we are postulating a new method of collaborative, process-oriented, associational, iterative thinking based on the original architecture, as invented by Tim Berners-Lee, of the World Wide Web, the open end-to-end principle architecture that not only invites participation but has grown because of it.  In that rubric, in that world, in that class, in the great battle of Blogging vs Research Paper, blogging wins by a knock-out.  It's not even a close call.  I'm calling the fight right now, in round one.  In "This Is Your Brain on the Internet," blogging rules.

Submitted by gerrycanavan on Jan 14, 2010, 04:46 PM

This semester I'll be teaching a Writing 20 here at Duke organized around Utopian science fiction from the latter half of the twentieth century: Star Trek, The Dispossessed, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and Dollhouse. (A longer description can be found here.) In keeping with the themes of the course that consider the digital as a possible space for Utopia, I've decided to move from the Blackboard discussion forum to a public blog housed with Duke's new WordPress project.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Dec 02, 2009, 06:12 AM

Anyone who studies "Digital Anything" without thinking through the cultural, social, philosophical, and material implications and applications of technology misses the boat.   It's happened over and over again in the history of technology.  Where people "blame technology" for cultural changes without understanding the mechanisms of cultural change.

Submitted by gerrycanavan on Sep 11, 2009, 01:48 PM

"I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life." -Barack Obama, fifteen years too late for me

Submitted by mikenutt on Sep 03, 2009, 09:40 PM

What can I learn from those with whom I disagree that will make my ideas and my practice stronger? Can I work collaboratively with the very people with whom I disagree, and could our outcomes be better than anything we could have produced from our siloed perspectives?

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Mar 05, 2009, 03:59 PM
This Is Your Brain on the Internet: Episode 4

. . . In which we identify galaxies, Ananth loses sleep thinking about Jeff Hawkins? On INTELLIGENCE . . . Michael brings Jeff Hawkins to TYBI . . . and blogger Jennifer is invited to lecture the faculty on blogging . . .

Submitted by jonathan.tarr on Jan 09, 2009, 03:58 PM

It's that time of the year again: you can vote for your favorite blogs in a number of categories for the 2008 Bloggies (officially known as the 2008 Weblog Awards). Much like last year, some of the most popular group blogs and most familiar individual faces are back.

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Jun 01, 2008, 05:41 PM
What do we really mean by "community" when we think about virtual participation? We know from many studies that far more people "lurk" than respond . . . are lurkers part of a community?

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Apr 28, 2008, 05:01 AM
A study center. Liguria. New friends. A mountain house, a mountain walk. A farmer's market. A perfect Sunday. Is this my life? Or is this my blog?

Submitted by Cathy Davidson on Apr 07, 2008, 04:45 PM

 

Oliver Wang and Mark Anthony Neal: CULTURAL CRITICISM 2.0 ?How Do You Filter the Infinite??

I?m sitting in Franklin Center 240 LiveBlogging a conversation between two of our smartest cultural critics, Oliver Wang and Mark Anthony Neal. As background, check out these great blogs by Wang and Neal

?How Do You Filter the Infinite??

I?m sitting in Franklin Center 240 LiveBlogging a conversation between two of our smartest cultural critics, Oliver Wang and Mark Anthony Neal. The topic of the conversation is soul music, "blue-eyed soul," race and popular music, and what it means to be a cultural critic on the internet . . where anything you write on the internet "never, ever goes away . . . "