Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Image of Africa courseblog

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’ve finally gotten my courseblog (and Twitter feed) for History 86, Image of Africa, fully set up. I’m really looking forward to this class: it’s become as much a class on the history of transmedia interactions as it is about … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Swarthmore | Comments Off

The Temperament of Serpents

Posted on September 3, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I went surf fishing in Delaware for the first time this summer. My previous experience had been limited to freshwater fishing, mostly for trout, some with a spinning reel using lures and bait, some fly-fishing. So I spent some time … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Production of History | 3 Comments

The Emperor’s New Interface

Posted on August 26, 2010 by Timothy Burke

A beginning-of-the-semester raft of posts is on the way. Let me start off with a little appetizer of outrage before I get on to the long-winded equivocating, though. It seems like most librarians are willing to kiss and make up … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | Comments Off

Tomato Tomatoe

Posted on August 5, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’ve got a steady flow of tomatoes from the garden now, though I’ve lost a few to blossom-end rot this year, I think because it’s been so hot and relatively dry. So far I’ve made a spicy wine-and-tomato sauce with … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Life, Food | 11 Comments

Geeking Out About Dragons and Alt-History

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I’ve talked about Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series before, which is an alternate history focused on the premise that many of the major governments of the world between 1600-1800 have had access to intelligent dragons as military, economic and cultural resources. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Popular Culture, Sheer Raw Geekery | 3 Comments

Evidence Is Old-Fashioned?

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Timothy Burke

So, more wailing and gnashing of teeth about Andrew Breitbart. The New York Times has a piece on plagiarism that reviews an increasingly prominent argument that contemporary college students simply don’t know that copying the words of another writer verbatim … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 10 Comments

I Want My AuthenticiTV

Posted on August 2, 2010 by Timothy Burke

I largely believe in the everyday critical capacity of contemporary audiences. In many ways, I think cultural consumers today are the most sophisticated in human history. To some extent, that’s because their toolkits, both intellectual and technological, have a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Politics, Popular Culture | 3 Comments

Tenure from a Wide Angle

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Timothy Burke

So I see that the issue of tenure has come up again while I was away. No surprise: it will keep coming up until some stable new institutional norm for academic employment emerges. What is much clearer now than when … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 4 Comments

Camp Grenada

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Timothy Burke

Back from our big summer camping trip, this time in Acadia National Park. Fun, but there was a bit of a curse on this particular expedition. First the valve on our mattress broke and we slept on the hard and … Continue reading →

Posted in Domestic Life | Comments Off

Extension Tutorials?

Posted on July 9, 2010 by Timothy Burke

On a somewhat related topic to the use of customized writing services. I keep getting emails from a Canadian company that is basically trying to sell themselves as short-term research assistants for hire. I’m not terribly impressed with the company’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 5 Comments