Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Sense and Sensibility

Posted on March 16, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Some more thinking about journalism, the public sphere and policy formation. There was a spirited discussion of breastfeeding last week at a number of blogs, particularly 11d and Crooked Timber. I said my piece in the 11d thread, basically recounting … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Politics | 13 Comments

Cramer and Stewart

Posted on March 13, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I’m very much enthused by the proposition that Jon Stewart and his merry band of TIVO-ing staffers should step up their attacks and go after much of the rest of the media. The basic drive behind the Daily Show‘s criticism … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Technology and Information Literacy, Politics, Popular Culture | 21 Comments

The Protection of the Uninitiated

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I don’t have much to add to various reactions to the Watchmen film. To put it simply, I enjoyed it far more than I expected to, especially after I found 300 impossible to enjoy as simple dumb fun because it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture | 7 Comments

Mindful of Money

Posted on March 10, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Swarthmore, like virtually all American colleges and universities, is presently engaged in serious collective scrutiny of its spending habits. The hope in our case and many others is that small, incremental frugalities will head off any need for more drastic … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 9 Comments

Journalism, Civil Society and 21st Century Reportage

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Timothy Burke

As the failure of many newspapers looms and public radio cuts its journalistic offerings, the complaint against new media by established journalists gets sharper and sharper. The key rallying cry is that new media can’t provide investigative reporting, that it … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging, Books, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Miscellany | 18 Comments

Social Production, the Good Life, and the Ways of Desire

Posted on March 6, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Ever since I studied the history of consumption and commodities, I’ve been uncomfortable with the conventional terms of what James Twitchell has called the “jeremiad against consumerism”. I’m still uncomfortable with the proposition that what we now need to aim … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities | 1 Comment

I Do Believe in Fairies! I Do!

Posted on February 27, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I hadn’t heard of Paul Krsek before this NPR segment and a few other NPR pieces about his view of the market and the economy, but I’ll be looking for his name more often from here on out. Krsek struck … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany, Politics | 5 Comments

Suggestions for the Campus Activist

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Timothy Burke

There’s an old idea in historical research that the material we find in archives often make their authors into “witnesses in spite of themselves”, that what people meant to record or note is often quite at odds with what they … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 9 Comments

Oh the Humanities

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Patricia Cohen has an odd article in the Arts section of the New York Times today titled, “In Tough Times, Humanities Must Justify Their Worth”. It seems odd to me because in substantial measure, you could have published a similar … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Popular Culture, Production of History | 7 Comments

Grades as Information

Posted on February 24, 2009 by Timothy Burke

A bit more on grading. One of the responses to the conversation about grading over at Megan McArdle’s blog was from David Walser, who was frustrated with the idea of flexible or situational grading because he claims that he uses … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 13 Comments