Category Archives: Information Technology and Information Literacy

The State of the Art: 500px and Flickr as a Window Into Social Media (II)

Posted on November 8, 2012 by Timothy Burke

II. Algorithmic Culture: Code and Agency New media theorists and digital humanists, most prominently Alexander Galloway, have been writing over the last decade about “algorithmic culture”, about practices, interpretations and readings that arise within and around algorithmic media. Galloway often … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Oh Not Again He's Going to Tell Us It's a Complex System, Pictures from an Institution | 1 Comment

The State of the Art: 500px and Flickr as a Window Into Social Media (I)

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Timothy Burke

I’ve been exploring Flickr and 500px a lot over the last month, partly as a way of sharpening my own growing interest in photography and visuality. Both sites, however, are also fantastic case studies of the evolving character of social … Continue reading →

Posted in Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Pictures from an Institution | Comments Off on The State of the Art: 500px and Flickr as a Window Into Social Media (I)

Tweet Away

Posted on October 2, 2012 by Timothy Burke

I refuse to use the hashtag, but the bubbling-up of a long-standing conversation about live communications from academic conferences over the last three days has been interesting to read. While I can’t disagree with Kathleen Fitzpatrick’s pragmatic advice to concede … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 9 Comments

The Frenzy

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Timothy Burke

I like the idea of “entrepreneurship” a lot when it describes the compression of several complicated things into one concept or practice. The first would be a structured kind of practical creativity, a purposeful or directed path to having and … Continue reading →

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

Bad Research and Informational Heresies (Draft Syllabus)

Posted on August 28, 2012 by Timothy Burke

Still polishing this a bit, but I think it’s at the point where we can share it and get comments. I’m co-teaching this with my totally awesome colleague Rachel Buurma in the Department of English at Swarthmore. I’m really excited … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Digital Humanities, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Swarthmore | 12 Comments

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

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

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

The Shameless Style

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Timothy Burke

When people feel no shame, watch out. Any cultural or political system that depends on participants living up to minimal commitments for quality, integrity, or diligence where there are no consequences besides embarassment for outright discarding those commitments can thrive … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Cleaning Out the Augean Stables, Information Technology and Information Literacy | 4 Comments