Author Archives: Timothy Burke

How to Read Departmental Webpages (And How to Make Them Readable)

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Timothy Burke

So today I turned my attention to a bit of institutional homework I was assigned, to find out how some of Swarthmore’s peer institutions approach neuroscience, whether it’s a department or a program, how many positions are dedicated to it, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Swarthmore | 4 Comments

On How Not to be Foxhog College

Posted on February 22, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Let’s try a thought-experiment. Imagine a college which goes well beyond St. John’s College, Hampshire or the College of the Atlantic in the experimental premise of its design. Call it Vulpine College. It has a faculty of 100, a student … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 6 Comments

UnConference or MutateConference?

Posted on February 9, 2012 by Timothy Burke

This morning I was drawn to a post by Mitch Joel claiming that the “unconference movement” is dead. I hadn’t encountered Joel’s blog before, so I hope I’m not reading this piece out of the context of his usual commentary. … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | 5 Comments

The Work of Criticism

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Jumping straight out of my Twitter feed about THATCamp Games, I want to work a bit more on a reaction I had to a morning panel on teaching games in a higher ed class. I heard a pretty strong strain … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Games and Gaming | 5 Comments

A Way To Think About Online Courses (By Apple, For Example)

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Timothy Burke

So Apple’s big education-oriented product announcement has come and gone. I’m going to tread softly here about what it might lead to, because I’ve been wrong before on tech rollouts (both overestimating and underestimating impacts). In general, most of what … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Swarthmore | 3 Comments

There Is Nothing You Possess That Power Cannot Take Away

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Timothy Burke

…to paraphrase what Belloq says to Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The problem with a rights-based liberalism is precisely that it is not and never can be the end of history, that it is never secure or … Continue reading →

Posted in Intellectual Property, Politics | 4 Comments

Just Because You’re Paranoid

Posted on January 17, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Last month, I had a really interesting opportunity to participate in an open peer review for the project Writing History in a Digital Age. Somewhat to my dismay, I found myself falling into old-fartism in various ways as I made … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities | 2 Comments

I Endorse These Messages

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Remember when people used to use blogs mostly just for shout-outs to other bloggers? Ok, they’re often still for that purpose, but it seems to me that Twitter serves that function far more efficiently. Also, with my own bloggorhea, I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | 5 Comments

Pictures from an Institution 9 (Visitors)

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Catching up here with some photo sessions from the fall. Broadly speaking, my theme of the visual documentation of faculty work always has two accompanying problems. The first is that some of the work of faculty makes for a lousy … Continue reading →

Posted in Pictures from an Institution, Swarthmore | Comments Off on Pictures from an Institution 9 (Visitors)

Discovering the Template

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Timothy Burke

I’m very restless with my syllabi and with the courses I teach: I do new preps fairly often and tend to overhaul substantial portions of existing courses equally often. In thinking about new classes, I tend to ask myself: 1. … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | Comments Off on Discovering the Template