Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Rebooting

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Timothy Burke

Folks who follow this blog, or my social media presence generally, have probably noted that I’ve not had much to say lately. Part of that is feeling overly busy, but it’s more the consequence of a growing sense of perplexity … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Blogging, Cleaning Out the Augean Stables, Grasping the Nettle | 2 Comments

Counterfactual History: A Course Update

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Timothy Burke

So I’m teaching the second iteration of my course on counterfactual history this semester. I’m doing a really different kind of group research project in this version of the class. Basically the students are working in two-person teams to develop … Continue reading →

Posted in Swarthmore | 8 Comments

Gamergate. Shit, We’re Still Only in Gamergate.

Posted on October 17, 2014 by Timothy Burke

A couple of nights ago, I got up to go to the bathroom. Still only partially awake, I flushed and stumbled back to bed, only to hear the gushing sounds of the toilet overflowing. I seriously considered just letting it … Continue reading →

Posted in Cleaning Out the Augean Stables, Games and Gaming, Popular Culture | 6 Comments

How College Works: Assessment

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Timothy Burke

I don’t think it’s a secret that I am very frustrated with prevailing trends in higher education assessment. I feel bad that this frustration often forces me to be a major annoyance to great local colleagues in the faculty and … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 7 Comments

How College Works: First Appreciation

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Timothy Burke

One of the most extreme extreme cases of an unfair division in attention to two different books dealing with the same subject is the difference between William Deresiewicz’ Excellent Sheep and Daniel Chambliss and Christopher Takacs’ How College Works. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 6 Comments

Abandoning the Post

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Timothy Burke

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s governing body just made a serious mistake that will have consequences for the entirety of U.S. academia. I’ll let people who are better thinkers about organizing a political response within academia take the next … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 15 Comments

On the Salaita Decision

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Timothy Burke

I wrote a short note to Chancellor Wise when this story first broke expressing hope that she would find a way to delicately undo the decision. I didn’t join some of the collective statements for a variety of reasons. But … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 15 Comments

Turning the Camera Around

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Timothy Burke

Through an improbable chain of events, I had an opportunity as an undergraduate to work as a summer intern at the Los Angeles Times. It was a great, life-changing gig–I found that I both liked journalists a lot and yet … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany, Politics | Comments Off on Turning the Camera Around

History 82 Fall 2014 Syllabus

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Timothy Burke

Here’s the current version of the syllabus for my upcoming fall class on the history of digital media. Really excited to be teaching this. ——————— History 82 Histories of Digital Media Fall 2014 Professor Burke This course is an overly … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Humanities, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property, Popular Culture, Swarthmore | 4 Comments

Conduct Unbecoming

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Timothy Burke

A campus Title IX coordinator recently made some interesting comments to Elizabeth Nolan Brown at the Dish about the problem of sexual assault on college campuses. A lot of the national debate, such as it is, about what’s gone wrong … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 13 Comments