Monthly Archives: January 2008

One-A-Day, Tsuneo Yoshikuni, African Urban Experiences in Colonial Zimbabwe: A Social History of Harare Before 1925

Posted on January 21, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I have a tendency to oversell the value of a generalist approach to academic work, partly to try and defend my own practices and interests. I genuinely think that many specialist monographs fail to make a case for their importance, … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 10 Comments

One-A-Day: John Wright, Fugitives of Chaos

Posted on January 18, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I feel like finding new authors to like in genre fiction can be quite difficult. You know who you already like, but the marketing of work by new authors often makes them seem either as if they’re derivative of someone … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Popular Culture, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 1 Comment

Historians For Messy Desks

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Timothy Burke

I’ve been trying to keep an open mind about the primaries. Among other reasons, because as a registered independent, I can’t vote in them anyway in Pennsylvania. But everyone has their tipping point, and mine kind of just tipped over … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | 10 Comments

My Librarians Are Awesome

Posted on January 17, 2008 by Timothy Burke

In the category of “best unexpected surprises ever” and also “why academics should blog”. I posted my syllabi this fall on this blog. In one new course in particular, I’m using a bunch of new texts that I knew were … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 5 Comments

Site Note

Posted on January 15, 2008 by Timothy Burke

We’re doing some fiddling and moving of stuff behind the scenes. There may be some delays in accessing Easily Distracted in the next few days as the DNS updates.

Posted in Blogging | Comments Off on Site Note

One-A-Day: Simon Winder, The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey Into the Disturbing World of James Bond

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Quite often, I read a book and think to myself that I need to find a class where I can teach the book. Sometimes that’s easy: there’s quite a range of work I can throw into my class on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 1 Comment

NITLE Reflections

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Timothy Burke

One thing I did notice at the NITLE meeting is a big variation even within the universe of small liberal arts colleges about the level of interest and investment at an institutional level in collaboration through digital media. I’m willing … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 8 Comments

Delayed Liveblogging of NITLE, “Scholarly Collaboration”, final session

Posted on January 14, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Session on digitization. Eric Luhrs, Lafayette University, “Maximizing Digitization Efforts at Small Liberal Arts Colleges”. Small institutions have low barriers to digitization: bureaucracy is very informal, collaboration is easier, faculty are more accessible to IT and library staff engaged in … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Technology and Information Literacy | Comments Off on Delayed Liveblogging of NITLE, “Scholarly Collaboration”, final session

Liveblogging NITLE, “Scholarly Collaboration and Small Colleges in the Digital Age”, 6th panel

Posted on January 12, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Andrea Nixon, Joel Cooper, Egohsa Awaah, “Ethnographic Study of Visual Materials Use at Carleton College”. Trying to extend the work of Foster and Gibbons on resource usage in libraries and archives. Student and faculty interviews. Students: they wanted to see … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy | Comments Off on Liveblogging NITLE, “Scholarly Collaboration and Small Colleges in the Digital Age”, 6th panel

Liveblogging NITLE, “Scholarly Collaboration and Small Colleges in the Digital Age”, 5th panel

Posted on January 11, 2008 by Timothy Burke

Dan Schnaidt, Wesleyan University, “Repositioning the Academic Media Studio”. Building infrastructure of faculty collaboration in digital contexts at Wesleyan, “back-end engine”, since 2000. Focus on creating “learning objects”: usable anytime, reusable content, cost-effective. Schnaidt notes that the term is kind … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Technology and Information Literacy | 2 Comments