Author Archives: Timothy Burke

Arizona’s Experiment: Just How Bad Is The Academic Job Market, Anyway?

Posted on February 21, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Take a look at what the Arizona legislature is considering doing. Professors at state institutions would not be allowed to publically advocate for any political candidate, give expert testimony in trials, or have a public opinion on any issue considered … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 13 Comments

Beware of What You Wish For

Posted on February 21, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I get the sense occasionally that some of my colleagues see me as an evangelist for the use of new technologies in the classroom and in academic research. If I’m a technological missionary, though, my faith and more importantly my … Continue reading →

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

Not a Sandbox

Posted on February 20, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I’ve been struggling to figure out what to say, or whether to say anything, about the issue of blogging in the Edwards campaign. Outside of a few comments threads, I decided to not say anything while the issue was hot, … Continue reading →

Posted in Blogging | 10 Comments

Media Non-Literacy and Representational Authoritarianism

Posted on February 20, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Following some links from a discussion of the visual imagery in some computer games, I ended up at the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on the Sexualization of Girls, as well as a short BBC news item on the study. … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Popular Culture | 3 Comments

Compromise

Posted on February 20, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I joke that when they’re presented with two or more diametrically opposed ways of interpreting knowledge or evidence, Swarthmore students habitually say, “Both are right, to some degree”. But who am I to talk? That’s my schtick too. So in … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellany | 3 Comments

From the Mixed-Up Bookshelves: Ian Buruma and Avishai Margalit, Occidentalism; Alberto Manguel, The History of Reading

Posted on February 19, 2007 by Timothy Burke

When I spoke to a group of publishers two weeks ago, I said that a world in which there were fewer specialized monographs would be a good thing. Fewer, better (and better-selling, one hopes) books from academics. What do I … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, The Mixed-Up Bookshelves | 5 Comments

Publishing Presentation on Academic Blogging

Posted on February 15, 2007 by Timothy Burke

Last week, I had a chance to talk about academic blogging in relationship to academic publishing at the Professional and Scholarly Publishing pre-conference event in Washington. Here’s the basic outline of my talk here, with some additional notes. The main … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Blogging | 7 Comments

Obama and Blackness

Posted on February 13, 2007 by Timothy Burke

The worst job interview I ever had for an academic position included among its memorably difficult moments an interrogator with extremely strong Afrocentric views. She started by asking me what books I had read recently that I found useful or … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Politics | 3 Comments

Pop-Culture Settings

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Timothy Burke

So there’s been a bit of talk recently about teacher movies, and how obnoxious they can be. You might wonder about why doctors, firemen, and police are so central to a great deal of TV drama (and even situation comedy). … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular Culture | 6 Comments

Wikitedium

Posted on February 1, 2007 by Timothy Burke

I’m with Geeky Mom: how many times do we have to have this discussion? I’m using Wikipedia this semester where it seems appropriate: to provide quick, condensed background on a historical subject as preparation for a more general discussion. Next … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 2 Comments