Category Archives: Information Technology and Information Literacy

Digital Search II: A User Perspective on Database Design

Posted on October 15, 2009 by Timothy Burke

If I’m anxious about Google becoming a database vendor, it’s partly because the user experience with existing databases has been so dismal to date. On the other hand, Google’s understanding of and commitment to usability is head and shoulders above … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | 1 Comment

Digital Search I: Google Poisons the Well

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I am apparently not the only person who feels a bit bait-and-switched by the state of Google’s digitization projects after the settlement. So much so that Sergey Brin himself has sallied forth to defend the current terms in the New … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Books, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | 6 Comments

From Gourmet to the Daily Gazette

Posted on October 8, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I was reminded for the first time in years of the existence of Gourmet magazine a few weeks ago when a foodie colleague of mine started talking about some recipes she’d made from it recently. I used to subscribe to … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Blogging, Food, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Swarthmore | 6 Comments

Course Zero

Posted on October 6, 2009 by Timothy Burke

There’s an interesting article at Inside Higher Education about the new breed of peer-to-peer style sites for collecting student notes and course materials, officially for the purposes of providing study aids. In reality, at least some of the sites in … Continue reading →

Posted in Academia, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property, Swarthmore | 4 Comments

A Facepalm Moment

Posted on September 30, 2009 by Timothy Burke

There’s a lot of discussion going around gaming sites about Stardock CEO Brad Wardell announcing that his company would boycott UPS because UPS was pulling its ads from Fox. Wardell’s backtracking since the story began to circulate is the kind … Continue reading →

Posted in Consumerism, Advertising, Commodities, Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy | Comments Off on A Facepalm Moment

The Limits to Shill

Posted on August 24, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I continue to feel pretty diffident about the controversy among anthropologists about the Human Terrain Team and other uses of qualitative social science by the U.S. military over the past decade or so. The issue for me is not whether … Continue reading →

Posted in Information Technology and Information Literacy | 5 Comments

Liveblogging State of Play, Day 2, Lunch Session

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Talking about new media reporting and games. Julian Dibbell: the hook of these stories is maybe completely done in the terms that we’ve seen so far (e.g., “this is the future! there are people with stores in Second Life!!!!” but … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | Comments Off on Liveblogging State of Play, Day 2, Lunch Session

Liveblogging at State of Play, Day 2, Session 2

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Session on kid and tween worlds. Joost van Dreunen. Stepping away idea of designer as author, moving towards the idea of supplying tools to players or participants. Video games as meaning-making experiences. Interested in how kid worlds/tween worlds actually make … Continue reading →

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Liveblogging State of Play, Day 2, Session 1

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

I’m at the developer roundtable. Dan Norton, Raph Koster, Jesse Houston, Nick Fortugno, Mike Sellers [Me: Thank god for these guys, just as an aside: developers interested in exploratory conversations about the form, who don’t just stare at people and … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | 3 Comments

State of Play, Day 2

Posted on June 20, 2009 by Timothy Burke

Trying to think about yesterday’s sessions before we get started. What is sticking with me is this: 1. No application, design or game can live up to the utopian imagination of potential users or players, and that utopian imagination is … Continue reading →

Posted in Games and Gaming, Information Technology and Information Literacy, Intellectual Property | Comments Off on State of Play, Day 2