doctoral candidate in rhetoric and scientific and technical communication
Archive for June, 2006
uh-oh
0
It’s that time of the year again.
For those of you who have been reading my blog for a long time, you know that every year, about this time, I write about the fires. I wrote about the Rodeo-Chediski fires in 2002. I’ve written about smaller fires happening around town.
This evening, as I’m getting ready to leave and a few of us are standing around talking electronics (because what else do geeky people talk about for fun???), someone said the smelled smoke.
We all go over to one of the windows. A huge plume of smoke is rising over the city, to the west of the university. One of my co-workers calls his wife to see where the fire is in proximity to their house. It’s further west. Okay, so nothing is probably in danger.
I head out to meet up with my brother and this HUGE plume of smoke is rising over the city. It is blocking out the sun. The city is turning orange from the color of it. Huge.
My brother calls. We’re both in disbelief. It’s like our town is under siege. We’re both trying to listen to the radio but can’t find anything. We hang up (we’ll meet up within a matter of minutes).
My sister calls. She’s at work and she thinks the fire is just over a retaining wall from where she’s at. The electricity is out. Have I heard anything? She can’t get the nearest radio station – their power is out, too. I tell her I’ll try to find out.
I call my brother back to let him know where our sister is and what’s going on. FINALLY, someone says something on the radio. It’s just over the hill from where my sister works. They don’t think homes are in danger. Wait, homes are in danger. Wait…not sure.
My sister calls to say her work has been evacuated. They’ve evacuated a mobile home park and housing development, as well.
Homes are in danger.
Winds are gusting to 45 mph.
The smoke is everywhere. People can’t breath.
And we hope the wind dies down. And we hope the fire is contained.
Soon.
keyword: social
05 years ago
Yesterday, on my main blog, I wrote about the Daily Kos issue with the Observer.
Daily Kos recently shared an article in which the UK newspaper, Observer, stated (emphasis mine),
For many, they are the nerds of US politics: laptop warriors, with brains full of statistics, no social life and devoting too much time to arcane policy details.
Okay, what is it about social software that mainstream media does not get? It’s incredibly social. If the reporter had even ventured into the Daily Kos and read the comments, he would have seen a thriving, interested, and engaged community – which cannot be said for many offline communities.
What is this social thing? I don’t know about you but I love to get comments. I like to hear what other people have to say about what I write. I like to comment back to them and agree or disagree or set the record straight or expand on it. I like engaging people. That’s half the reason I write. I want to know what people are thinking.
I also like how small the world becomes when you blog. When people from all over the U.S. comment, it’s cool. When people from other countries around the world comment, that is amazing.
Blogs are tools that connect us.
I think it’s important for people to really understand what social networking is and what kinds of communities are built through social software like blogs, wikis, del.icio.us, flickr, or frappr.
Blogs can be anything the writer decides it to be. It can be a personal journal (although, the personal part of it is somewhat removed since it’s no longer that lock & key diary if it’s a true blog). It can be a developmental log. It can be a way to share information with like-minded community members. It is a chronological, frequency-based account. If you write it multiple times a day, daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly, it’s still chronological.
So, what does this have to do with social networking? It’s all about the comments and the ways blogs are designed. Take WordPress, for example. Inside the dashboard of the blog, they have links to other blogs. They show who is publishing what, when, and where. They share information. They share links to new themes or plug-ins or information that will be important to fellow bloggers. People then go to the links, make comments, leave feedback, leave their URLs and a connection is made.
What is really important is that in a community like Daily Kos, people are actually connected in a real and emotional way. During the YearlyKos, one member of the dKos administrative team lost his house to a drunk driver. The driver actually drove into the house. What is worse, is that the driver drove into the baby’s room. Had the administrator not been at YearlyKos, his family could have been killed. The readers of dKos rallied around him. They sent messages. They sent money. They sent condolences, support, and empathy. They reached out, as a community, to take care of one of their own.
How often can we say that about the neighborhoods that we live in?
free
0
I had my three month dermatologist’s appointment today.
I always get so nervous. I know she’s going to cut me. I know that she will find something.
She always does. Always.
But not quite.
Today was the first time she didn’t take a biopsy. In the four years I’ve been going, she didn’t take any of my skin.
I told her that and she laughed. She said maybe we’ve finally gotten this ugly thing under control.
I just felt complete relief.
Short and sweet today. It’s a day to celebrate, live life, and be happy.
No cancer.
wikis
05 years ago
They often talk about measuring the accuracy of Wiki articles as though this was a physical process in which they could use a yardstick.
I read the above statement in a classroom and thought about it. I responded:
I think that the problem with Wikipedia is that it became the “go-to” place for anyone doing research on the internet. Everyone started looking to it as an authority, a secondary resource, to the research they were doing on other things.
Instead of carrying on the traditional wiki practice which allows anyone to contribute, the admins then had to consider their audience and purpose more carefully. Who did they really want to reach and why? What was important in this community.
Instead of a worldwide community that is more democratic, they have limited it only to those who are now authorities in the field they write in. If you have a PhD behind your name, in the Wikipedia arena you are given much more credit.
While I understand the need for this, it limits Wikipedia from being a true wiki. There is limited social intereaction and it is quite elitist at this point.
Addendum:
Funny enough, I found this on the Kairosnews blog today:
The Chronical of Education posted a note today describing how Wikipedia’s founder, Jimmy Wales, says that he wants to get the message out to college students letting them know that they shouldn’t use Wiki either for class projects or for serious research. Speaking at a conference held at the University of Pennsylvania on Friday called “The Hyperlinked Society,†Mr. Wales said that he gets a number of e-mails each week from students who complain that Wikipedia has gotten them into academic trouble. However, he said that he has no sympathy for their misfortune, noting that he thinks to himself: “For God sake, you’re in college; don’t cite the [Wiki] encyclopedia.â€
Mr. Wales said that leaders of Wikipedia have considered putting together a fact sheet so that professors could pass it out in their classes to explain what Wikipedia is, and that it is not always a definitive academic resource. In an interview, Mr. Wales said that Wikipedia is suitable for many uses. For example, if you are reading a novel that mentions a particular historical event, you could use Wikipedia to get a quick basic overview of that event to understand the context. But students who are actually writing a paper about that event should rely upon the authority of history books.
While it’s interesting that he is stating this, I have a feeling that it will be used by more and more college students because it is written by experts in the field (for the most part) and because it sounds authoritative.
keyword: social
05 years ago
Daily Kos recently shared an article in which the UK newspaper, Observer, stated (emphasis mine),
For many, they are the nerds of US politics: laptop warriors, with brains full of statistics, no social life and devoting too much time to arcane policy details.
Okay, what is it about social software that mainstream media does not get? It’s incredibly social. If the reporter had even ventured into the Daily Kos and read the comments, he would have seen a thriving, interested, and engaged community – which cannot be said for many offline communities.
What is this social thing? I don’t know about you but I love to get comments. I like to hear what other people have to say about what I write. I like to comment back to them and agree or disagree or set the record straight or expand on it. I like engaging people. That’s half the reason I write. I want to know what people are thinking.
I also like how small the world becomes when you blog. When people from all over the U.S. comment, it’s cool. When people from other countries around the world comment, that is amazing.
Blogs are tools that connect us.
queen
0ashley will like this one.
Thanks to clancy for the link.
Congratulations! You are Katherine Parr.
Katherine Parr spent nearly her whole life married to crotchety old men: Henry was the THIRD old fart she was forced to marry. Is it any wonder she turned to books and religion to occupy her time?
Katherine wasn’t just smart, she was a tiny bit uppity, too: she almost got herself thrown in jail for arguing with His Royal Fatness about some theological issues. After Henry croaked, Katherine dropped the prim and proper act and married Thomas Seymour, a handsome, dashing pirate kind of guy who was also as dumb as a post.
Which goes to show you that even bookworms know how to get it on.
Which of Henry VIII’s wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury
what is white trash?
05 years ago
by dawn
in the early years
I may not be portraying how poor we were properly. And maybe more of that comes later when we were actually homeless. Or maybe I don't explain what going to the swap meet meant every week – that it meant the difference between food on the table or not.
Or maybe I haven't explained how kids would tease us, even as very young children, for the way we dressed. Our clothes were hand-me-downs from friends and family or they were bought in second-hand stores (before that was the cool thing to do) or they were bought at the swap meets. And maybe I'm not explaining well enough exactly what that means – that these clothes might have stains or not fit quite right (especially when you're exceptionally tall and exceptionally thin for a child your age). Highwaters were a part of my life because only short pants would fit around my tiny waist.
Or maybe I'm not explaining how we were always on subsidized food, even in school, and how that made us stand out – probably because this makes a bigger impact later, when I actually understand what subsidized school lunches are and how I had to work in the lunchroom to help pay for my own lunch – at the age of 10. So while everyone else was out on recess, I was working.
And maybe I'm not explaining well what all of this does to your spirit and your hopes and your belief in yourself. Because it does affect it. You're the poor kid. You're the kid people feel sorry for and look on with disdain all at once. You're the kid who believes that you are just not as good as those who can afford to buy the newest things.
Being poor isn't fun and it isn't something that creates character and it isn't something that is appealing – even though Steinbeck novels make it almost seem romantic.
It's not.
It's sad and hard and depressing.
But it has also helped me be who I am – something I wouldn't change for all of the money in the world. I value those hard years.
the dancer
05 years ago
american life in poetry: column 063
by ted kooser, u.s. poet laureate, 2004-2006
Remember those Degas paintings of the ballet dancers? Here is a similar figure study, in muted color, but in this instance made of words, not pigment. As this poem by David Tucker closes, I can feel myself holding my breath as if to help the dancer hold her position.
The Dancer
Class is over, the teacher
and the pianist gone,
but one dancer
in a pale blue
leotard stays
to practice alone without music,
turning grand jetes
through the haze of late afternoon.
Her eyes are focused
on the balancing point
no one else sees
as she spins in this quiet
made of mirrors and light–
a blue rose on a nail–
then stops and lifts
her arms in an oval pause
and leans out
a little more, a little more,
there, in slow motion
upon the air.
Reprinted from the 2005 Bakeless Prize winner “Late for Work”, by David Tucker, Houghton Mifflin, 2006, by permission of the author. “The Dancer” first appeared in “Visions International”, No. 65, 2001. Copyright (c) 2001 by David Tucker. This weekly column is supported by The Poetry Foundation, The Library of Congress, and the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This column does not accept unsolicited poetry.
what does your birthday mean?
0Thanks to Geraldine for this little bit of Sunday fun.
| Your Birthdate: December 10 |
 Independent and dominant, you tend to be the alpha dog in most situations. You’re very confident, and hardly anything ever shakes you. Mundane tasks tend to drain you – you prefer to be making great plans. You are quite original. When people don’t “get” you, it bothers you a lot. Your strength: Your ability to gain respect Your weakness: Caring too much what others think Your power color: Orange-red Your power symbol: Letter X Your power month: October |
symbiosis
0
Tonight I watched Elizabethtown.
I’m a sucker for movies that fall within the “chick flick” genre. Sweet little love stories where girl meets boy, girl is attracted to boy, something happens to make them move apart but realize how much they mean to one another, girl and boy end happily ever after.
I like that they make me laugh. I like that they make me cry.
They make me think, though. And getting me thinking is just a disaster because then I can’t stop thinking.
Do you think there is someone out there for everyone? Or am I just spinning my wheels, hoping there is?
I kind of think of humans like the aspens in the photo. We need one another to blossom and grow. We need that symbiotic relationship that allows us to sprout and fulfill our greatest promise.
But what if we never find that other person (whether it’s a friend or a partner) who is supposed to fill that symbiotic role?
Or what if I already missed that person that was supposed to fill that role because I overlooked him for the more exciting, more dangerous man that turned my head?
Am I doomed to grow old and be like a cat lady (but with dogs)?
Or worse, yet, without any dogs – just alone.