Category Archives: Academia

Calling All Librarians, Info Scientists, Digital Humanists

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Timothy Burke

I’m still struggling with how to begin a project that I would like to be a lifelong commitment for the rest of my career. The issues are technical and conceptual. What I want to do is begin publishing and archiving … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Swarthmore | 16 Comments

A Sample Class Prep

Posted on August 1, 2012 by Timothy Burke

I’m still thinking about ways to put some of my note-taking in my ordinary workflow into a disseminated or published form. More on that soon, as I’m seeking advice. But one other summer project has been to dig into my … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 1 Comment

Hacker Job

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Before I get to worrying about algebra, Andrew Hacker’s essay in the Sunday NYT made me worry about writing and research. As in, “This is poorly written” and “I don’t think he did much research”. If I were marking the … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Politics | 16 Comments

Listen Up You Primitive Screwheads

Posted on July 20, 2012 by Timothy Burke

(Army of Darkness reference for the uninitiated.) I hereby volunteer: the next pundit who talks about how MOOCs are going to save higher education some big bucks needs to meet me for drinks at the establishment of his or her … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | 15 Comments

Tales of the Burning World

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Timothy Burke

One of the hardest things for academic historians to accept is that their characteristic engagement with the past is deeply, arguably inextricably, interwoven with the very particular ways that nations and modernity use history as a tool. E.g., both nations … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Production of History | 1 Comment

Showing the Money

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Timothy Burke

So I sounded a note of confidence in my Chronicle of Higher Education piece that faculty are perfectly capable of constructive participation in hard fiscal choices and being responsible custodians of the liberal arts ideal within resource constraints. How sure … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Swarthmore | 5 Comments

Etsy Education

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Let me revive another point I’ve made before at this blog about online education of any kind, including blended learning and “flipped classrooms”. This thought may be a bit less comforting to folks at the University of Virginia, though it … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 5 Comments

Trouble in River City

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Let’s talk MOOCs, shall we? There’s evidence that one reason some members of the Board of Visitors at the University of Virginia decided they had to abruptly remove their president is that she didn’t have enough naive, heedless enthusiasm for … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 8 Comments

Go Big Or Don’t Go

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Timothy Burke

There are folks–oh, say, Matt Yglesias for example–who can’t seem to resist being prompted to rush to the spectator stands at Thunderdome when an academic department or discipline has been picked out by managerialist bean-counters as the esoteric waste of … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia | 12 Comments

Pictures From an Institution 12 (Archives)

Posted on June 18, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Archival research is another of those jobs that some faculty do that isn’t particularly photogenic, like reading secondary literature or doing peer review. At least many scientists have a machine that goes ping or a cage full of fruit flies, … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Pictures from an Institution, Swarthmore | 1 Comment