Template Composition For poster presentations, my institution has just released a new template. Fill-in-the-blank composition; where "identity standards" mean all texts look identical.

Here's what it looks like:

  ¶ 8:04 AM  3 comments

Dorm Bloggers Dunno if you follow m/any dorm bloggers, but they can be kinda fun, providing a journalistic angle on campus life, classes, and living in the dorms.

This one is a nice end-of-year post from one of the more popular dorm bloggers:

  ¶ 3:07 PM  0 comments

Comics at the Newberry   ¶ 8:05 AM  0 comments

Viral Syndication The other day, ML had a nice article published about her recent work on fMRI deception detection.


The article provides a nice example of viral syndication, having been picked up all over the place.

postchronicle.com: Professor Dubious About New Lie Detectors

bio-medicine.org: Scholar unconvinced new lie-detection methods

breitbart.com: Professor dubious about new lie detectors

news.usti.net: Professor Dubious About New Lie Detectors

sciencedaily.com: Scholar Unconvinced New Lie-detection Methods Better Than Old Ones

upi.com: Professor dubious about new lie detectors

labspaces.net:
Scholar unconvinced new lie-detection methods better than old ones

themoneytimes.com: Professor dubious about new lie detectors

It's even over at questionsoftheuniverse.com. Gotta love it.  ¶ 7:21 PM  0 comments

Visualizing Revision, Part II Earlier in the week, I put up a post about using tag clouds to visualize revision. It's a somewhat problematic approach, as it relies so heavily on lexical repetition, but with that known, it still shows a lot.

Now I see that RLG's Merrilee Proffitt (hi Merrilee!) is using a gadget called Wordle to visualize clouds a bit more ... artfully.

So here we go again: my dissertation, completed in 2005, on Wordle, followed by my book as of 2009:



  ¶ 3:32 PM  0 comments

Using Tag Clouds to Visualize Revision You probably know this: for folks in many humanities departments at large research schools like UIUC, a published academic monograph is a key part of getting tenure. That book is often derived in part from the dissertation, but there's this culture in place where, no matter how great that dissertation is, one generally has to demonstrate how much the book is different from the dissertation. This demonstration is usually done in prose.

Enter the tag cloud. Dump the text from both documents into an online clouder like tagcrowd.com, and compare results.

Here's the cloud from my dissertation, completed in 2005:






And then here's the cloud of the book manuscript circa 6.2009:






As you can see, some themes have stayed the same; others have disappeared or been added. For me, knowing these two documents so well, the tag clouds are detailed maps of the writing and rewriting. Each term is a pathway into so many decisions, dead ends, and productive avenues.

Next time I teach revision, I think I'll have students cloud their drafts.  ¶ 1:48 PM  3 comments

Non-Contact Graduation Here at the factory we're churning out another batch of graduates, but this year with less touching advised.

To: Faculty, Staff, Students
From: Robert D. Palinkas, M.D.
Director, McKinley Health Center
Subject: Handshaking at Commencement

Because of ongoing concerns about the possibility of spreading the flu virus, students receiving degrees and their families should not shake hands at Commencement if they have symptoms of an upper respiratory infection such as fever and cough.

McKinley Health Center will provide hand sanitizer on the platform at the Assembly Hall ceremonies so that graduates can, if they wish, use it before and/or after receiving their degrees. Members of the official platform party also are encouraged to use the hand sanitizer provided.

Everyone is encouraged to observe the other guidelines to reduce the risk of infection, such as covering coughs and sneezes; avoiding touching eyes, mouth and nose; and washing hands frequently.

Robert D. Palinkas, M.D.

This mailing approved by:
The Office of the Chancellor

  ¶ 10:25 AM  0 comments

The White House and Photoshop News today that $350,000 in taxpayer cha-ching has been spent getting the following pic over the Statue of Liberty. (It's not even that good.)




In the news is how the White House aide who authorized the flyover has stepped down as it freaked out about half of the residents of NYC.

Do White House aides know nothing about Photoshop?

As a service to our nation, I present these additional pics highlighting other national treasures:









  ¶ 2:55 PM  5 comments