Monthly Archives: May 2009

Academic travel survival guide

Posted on May 26, 2009 by Miriam

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of traveling for school. I’ve hit the road for conferences and to do research, and I’ve gone to Chicago, Cleveland, D.C., Boston, New York, Dallas, and Philadelphia. No matter where I go, there’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Academic Life | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Dapper: Create an RSS feed for sites that don’t have one

Posted on May 25, 2009 by Miriam

It seems like most sites offer RSS feeds (a method of subscribing to new postings), but every so often I’ll run into a site that doesn’t, but should. For example, say you want to be notified every time a certain … Continue reading →

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Documentary filmmakers and DVD encryption

Posted on May 20, 2009 by Miriam

I was interested to learn (via NPR’s On the Media, funnily enough) that there’s a dispute between the International Documentary Association (IDA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The dispute is about DVD encryption. Basically, it’s legal for … Continue reading →

Posted in Teaching, Who owns what? | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A dustyard of graves

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Miriam

I’ve been reading Geoff Dyer’s Out of Sheer Rage: Wrestling with D.H. Lawrence, which is a truly bad-humored memoir about procrastination and D.H. Lawrence and depression and some other things. There seems to be something awesome on every page. I … Continue reading →

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The best-laid plans …

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Miriam

I’ve been working hard to get the second chapter of my dissertation finished before the end of the month. I wouldn’t say I’m panicking, exactly, but I’m definitely feeling a heightened sense of urgency. It’s been funny to watch all … Continue reading →

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Pro-capitalism cartoon from 1948

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Miriam

As a public service, here’s “Going Places,” a 1948 cartoon digitized by the Internet Archive that describes the benefits of capitalism. Others in the series: “Make Mine Freedom” and “Destination Earth” (in which “Martian dissidents learn that oil and competition … Continue reading →

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Make tutorials dead-simple with ScreenSteps

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Miriam

If you’re wondering how I got so fancy with my instructions on how to make a DVD clip reel, I had a trick up my sleeve. ScreenSteps is an application specifically designed to create software tutorials. It has everything you … Continue reading →

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When in doubt, ask a real person

Posted on May 5, 2009 by Miriam

Web-based research is great and all, but sometimes nothing beats talking to a real person. One of my favorite tricks when researching an obscure topic (like a certain kind of microphone) is to pick up the phone and call someone. … Continue reading →

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Beyond Bullet Points, or maybe not

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Miriam

I’ve been thinking about PowerPoint lately, and about how I might use it productively. It seems pretty clear that the blizzard-of-bullet-points method is not useful. Who can make sense of such tiny print so quickly? What’s the point of slapping … Continue reading →

Posted in History & Technology, Teaching, Tools | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment