DanToday

Just Fool Enough to Try One More Time

2009-10-03T13:31:00.000-05:00

I am going to try to support this blog on my own again. May the spammers, hackers, and viruses stay away from DanToday.

A List of Minimalist Text Editors

2009-09-28T21:55:00.001-05:00

This list of Minimalist Text Editors was originally compiled by Jeff , author of DarkRoom.

A List of Minimalist Text Editors

Dark Room X
http://they.misled.us/archives/1218

JDark Room
http://www.codealchemists.com/jdarkroom/

Q10
http://www.baara.com/q10/

WriteMonkey
http://writemonkey.com/

WriteRoom
http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom

PyRoom
http://pyroom.org/

Rubyroom
http://rubyroom.rubyforge.org/

DarkCopy
http://darkcopy.com/

Writer
http://writer.bighugelabs.com/

MyTextFile
http://www.mytextfile.com/

Sentences

2009-09-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

I am trying to write a series of sentences, none of which begin with "I".

Etherpad Embeddable

2009-09-22T23:55:00.000-05:00

Etherpad tells of new developments: a "time slider" on every pad and the option to embed Etherpads in other web pages.

Darkroom Preview Release

2009-09-22T23:53:00.002-05:00

The minimalist text editor "Darkroom" has a new preview release. It now runs on AIR.

The President Tweets

2009-09-09T23:28:00.002-05:00

The President has tweeted.

Merlin Mann Says, "Get Started!"

2009-09-08T16:14:00.001-05:00

I enjoyed listening to this talk about overcoming procrastination, delivered by Merlin Mann.

I heard it on "The Sound of Young America" podcast.

It motivated me to write this post!

RSSCloud

2009-09-08T04:37:00.002-05:00

". . . we could see a whole new form of blogging really soon."

Overstock. com: Waiting to See

2009-08-18T16:46:00.002-05:00

I just bought an (impressively) inexpensive item from Overstock.com. We'll see if good stuff comes our way.

Here's your chance to wow us with value and savings, Overstock.com. Hope you come through.

Paint Doodle

2009-08-11T17:00:00.002-05:00

My One and Onlies

2009-08-10T22:23:00.005-05:00

It's sad that some of the best coffee I drink comes from quirky, serendipitous blends I'll never drink again.
This morning I drank a delectable blend, 75% of which consisted of Gene Hicks "Good Morning" blend, with the other 25% made up of Whole Foods "365" Colombian and a smattering of Tanzanian Peaberry from White Rock Coffee.
It was an unrepeatable blend, like a David Antin talk piece.
I doubt I'll ever taste its like again.

test 3

2009-08-10T10:02:00.001-05:00

test 3

Another Test Post

2009-08-10T00:48:00.001-05:00

Test Post.

PubSubHubBub Test Post

2009-08-10T00:32:00.002-05:00

Test Post.

Update: Test post.

A Little to Work With

2009-08-06T16:13:00.003-05:00

Composition Assignment:

Provide some content and challenge students to arrange it in a way that gives the content a narrative or argumentative shape, and to do some original writing to fill in the gaps.

Assign the use of particular rhetorical devices.

Illustrator Richard Bell in New Video

2009-08-04T23:05:00.006-05:00

British nature illustrator Richard Bell, creator of the Wild West Yorkshire illustrated nature diary, is featured in a video recently uploaded to YouTube by New York artist Danny Gregory.

The video has two parts: part 1 | part 2

GPACW 2009

2009-08-02T22:26:00.001-05:00

The Annual Conference of the Great Plains Association for Computers and Writing has posted its call for papers.

This year the conference will be hosted by St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Quiet, Please! (Part II)

2009-07-23T13:56:00.002-05:00

I am again in the Belfast Free Library. Mercifully, no work is being done on the road outside, and the noises that filled the great reading room on Tuesday have gone. Today, however, I have been joined at my long wooden table by a man with a penchant for pornographic videos and not a clue as to how to mute his netbook.

Quiet, Please!

2009-07-21T11:37:00.002-05:00

Some kind of construction work is being done on the street near the public library in Belfast, Maine, where I am trying to get some work done. This is what it sounds like in th Belfast Pubic Library right now.

Frustrating!

2009-07-21T11:16:00.000-05:00

Working with great intensity but to little positive effect. Frustrating!

Online Text to Speech

2009-07-17T16:03:00.002-05:00

To save my eyes, I found two online text-to-speech applications that work well, without limiting the length of text one enters to be read:

Hunch

2009-07-09T12:32:00.001-05:00

Hunch: the most personalized of searches.

Oo.org 3.1 = Improved Graphics

2009-07-02T22:53:00.002-05:00

OpenOffice.Org 3.1 features anti-aliased graphics.

FriendFeed Real Time Search

2009-07-02T22:19:00.005-05:00

FriendFeed search goes real time today.

My Writing Page Gets a Face Lift

2009-07-02T11:32:00.002-05:00

The old design having gotten too complicated, today I revised my web page for writing.

The new design is better. It is based on a streamlined writing process which still embodies the fundamental moves of my approach to thinking and writing, an approach that is marked by association and iteration.

The new writing page has two columns (it used to have three). The left column is for drafting. The right column serves three purposes: timing, outlining, and publishing.

The contents of the left column are simple: just a textarea formatted so as not to be too wide. The textarea appears inside an iframe which comes in handy later, in connection with publication links in the right column.

At this point, the column on the right contains a timer, a narrow textarea for outlining (and by outlining I mean just an informal list of words), and a list of links to web based word processors that open in the iframe on the left.

The process I follow when writing is simple. It is built on the kind of trust in the power of association of which William Stafford, Ray Bradbury, and other writers have written. With nothing or just a little something in mind to write, I set the timer for five minutes and write spontaneously and improvisationally in the textarea on the left for that time. When the time is up, I look over what I've written and type, in the narrow textarea on the right, a list of words suggested to my mind by the writing I've done on the left. Next, I delete what I've written on the left and begin again, this time following and riffing on the word list. This generally gives me a pretty good draft of some writing to share.

The links to publishing portals that appear below the narrow textarea on the right may be superfluous. I'm not sure. In any case, they open Zoho Writer, Buzzword, or Blogger within the iframe on the left. Buzzword and Blogger work better than Zoho Writer, which doesn't like to open in the iframe right away. To get Zoho Writer to open, you have to scroll around a little to login, then click the Zoho Writer logo in the upper left hand corner of the login page (you only have to go to this trouble to log in, however; after that - during the same session - the app opens fine with one click of the link). Buzzword and Blogger work better. Transfering text from textarea to publishing portal is simply a matter of copy-and-paste.

To prevent data loss due to a browser crash, I use Firefox with Greasemonkey and the textarea backup script installed.

I have added a bookmark to a locally stored version of my writing page to my browser's bookmarks toolbar. That way, if I feel like writing something, I can easily open the page in a tab with one click.

And that's my writing page at this iteration.

What's A Tweet?

2009-06-30T11:55:00.000-05:00

A Tweet is a chip off the old blog.

Nice Map!

2009-06-26T20:28:00.001-05:00

I had not noticed this graphical weather map from the National Weather Service until today. I like it a lot.

In Appreciation: Traffic Cams

2009-06-26T17:25:00.005-05:00

I was about to leave the house (in a car) to go for some sandwiches seven miles away. Seven highway miles away.
"Are you sure you want to do that at 5:00 on a Friday afternoon?" asks the spouse.
"It's summer," says I. "Everyone's already home."
"Really?" says she.

Well, apparently not everyone.

Directed Research Groups

2009-06-23T09:55:00.001-05:00

I like this phrase: "Directed Research Groups". It suggests the kind of student activity I think works very well in online learning environments.

Google Chrome Experiments

2009-06-22T23:49:00.002-05:00

Resolution

2009-06-22T23:32:00.000-05:00

be a lot more honest

about the observations
about the details
about the issues
about the doubts
and about the thoughts

HotToday!

2009-06-22T19:37:00.001-05:00

A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPERATURES IS
EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY
WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE
POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS...STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED
ROOM...STAY OUT OF THE SUN...AND CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND
NEIGHBORS.

What makes our current extra-hot weather even worse is that it looks so nice through the window.

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-21T09:57:00.001-05:00

Happy Father's Day to all fathers!

Aviary's Talon: A Seriously Convenient Screen Capture Tool

2009-06-20T21:29:00.004-05:00

Aviary, a startup that has developed and hosts a startling complement of browser-based image editing tools, now has launched Talon, a Firefox browser extension that lets one capture a screenshot of an entire web page, no matter how much of that page appears outside of the browser window. Now that is a serious convenience.

Update: I also like Pixlr. I prefer Pixlr's tools for drawing on the computer screen.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

2009-06-18T23:00:00.002-05:00

Attention!

2009-06-17T20:21:00.001-05:00

attention
Originally uploaded by djweinstein

Cricket finds an object worthy of attention on the roof outside my study window.

How to Install a WordPress Blog on a Nearlyfreespeech.net Hosting Account

2009-06-17T14:59:00.004-05:00

Follow these instructions to install Wordpress to your nearlyfreespeech hosting account.

First, Download Wordpress to Your Desktop.

Once you have downloaded Wordpress, follow these steps (on a Windows PC) to unzip the folder that contains the Wordpress program files:

right click on zipped folder icon

open with > compressed (zipped) folders

When window opens . . .

file > extract to your desktop >

complete the wizard

this should give you a Wordpress2.8 folder, and inside that, a "wordpress" folder, on your desktop
Make sure you have fully extracted the WordPress folder to your desktop.

Next, open the wordpress folder. Inside the wordpress folder, open the file named wp-config-sample.php. In a little while, you will edit the MySQL settings in wp-config-sample.php to match those of the database you will set up for your blog. But first, follow these steps to set up a database for your blog:

Go to your nearlyfreespeech.net dashboard (the web page you see immediately after you log in to the nearlyfreespeech.net portal)

Create a new web site (click "Create New Site" link in right side bar)

enter a short name for your site (example: moretolearn)

the host will append nfshost.com to the short name you enter

approve the url they give you

copy the FTP information for your site into a text file and save it; you'll need it later

Create a Database for your blog

Click the MySQL tab in your nearlyfreespeech.net dashboard

Click the "create a new MySQL process" link in the right side bar

Name the process (you can call it "blog" or "wordpress")

Associate the process with your account

You will receive an email when your MySQL process is running

On your MySQL page, click on the DSN (Data Source Name) of your process

In the right side bar, click "Create a Database"

Name the new database (you can call it "blog" or "wordpress", too). Save changes.

Click "View MySQL Information" in right side bar. Keep that view in the browser as you switch your attention, for a moment, to your text editing program.

Go into the WordPress folder on your desktop, and open wp-config-sample.php file in your text editor

Edit the lower case text between the single quotes on the following lines:

define('DB_NAME', 'putyourdbnamehere'); // The name of the database

define('DB_USER', 'usernamehere'); // Your MySQL username

define('DB_PASSWORD', 'yourpasswordhere'); // ...and password

define('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

After DB_NAME replace 'putyourdbnamehere' with the name of your database

After DB_USER replace 'usernamehere' with your nearlyfreespeech username (not your website username which is yournearlyfreespeechusername_yoursiteshortname)

After DB_PASSWORD replace 'yourpasswordhere' with your nearlyfreespeech password (you only have one of those)

After DB_HOST replace 'localhost' with the name of your nearlyfreespeech MySQL process (DSN)

Save wp-config-sample.php in the Wordpress folder on your desktop

Rename wp-config-sample.php so its name is wp-config.php

Now it's time to upload your Wordpress folder to the public folder of your nearlyfreespeech.net web site To do this, you will need to get yourself an FTP client. For our purposes, please download and install Filezilla. Once Filezilla has been installed on your PC, follow these steps to set up communication between Filezilla and your nearlyfreespeech account:

From Filezilla's toolbar, select Open File > Site Manager

Click the New Site button

Enter a reference name for your web site

Set logon type to "normal"

Enter the FTP information of your web site. You will find this information on the web page for your site (nearlyfreespeech.net > member login > sites (tab) > click-the-short-name-of-your-site)

The hostname is likely ftp.phx.nearlyfreespeech.net

The username is yournearlyfreespeechusername_yoursiteshortname

example: honeyofano_honeysite

The password is your nearlyfreespeech password

Save these settings by clicking "OK"

Connect to your site

Now, transfer the wordpress folder (not the Wordpress2.8 folder, but the wordpress folder that's inside it) from your desktop into your public folder (drag and drop the folder from the left side window that displays your desktop files to the right side window which displays the public folder of your nearlyfreespeech web site).
Once this transfer is complete, install Wordpress by navigating your web browser to http://yoursite.nfshost.com/wordpress, and, in the form that will meet you, entering the title of your blog (for example, I've titled my blog "web2blog"), your email address, and clicking the "Install Wordpress" button.

Next, Wordpress will give you a password. Don't lose it. Paste it into a text file and save it. Then log in to your blog using "admin" as your username and the password Wordpress has created for you. You will be able to change your password and create new user profiles once you have logged in to your blog.

Lastly, publish your first post. Tell everyone hello. Then send your instructor the URL of your weblog: http://yoursite.nfshost.com/wordpress. Your instructor will create a reading list of class blogs for you to graze.

A New Assignment for Web II

2009-06-16T15:16:00.004-05:00

For Web II, a new assignment to begin: use Exhibit to create a dynamic discussion displayed in a timeline. Then, use the exhibit as class worklog.

Web Everywhere

2009-06-08T22:35:00.003-05:00

". . . the web isn’t just this thing on the side that only appears in browsers. It’s everywhere. It’s the oxygen of modern computing."
—Brent Simmons

Pidgin

2009-06-06T23:18:00.000-05:00

I am now using Pidgin for chat.

Can't NOT Write

2009-06-06T23:15:00.001-05:00

My goal is to design a research and writing environment that makes it impossible for one NOT to write.

Pappa in the House

2007-01-27T23:01:00.000-06:00

My dad read in the living room during his visit.

Studio 360 Show Archive

2007-01-15T22:51:00.000-06:00

The title of this post says it all. For fans of this PRI show about all things cultural, its open archive is indeed a gift that keeps on giving.

Thanks, Kurt!

New Teaching Blog

2007-01-11T17:54:00.000-06:00

The new teaching blog is here.

David Lynch on Creativity

2007-01-11T15:54:00.000-06:00

Filmmaker David Lynch talks about creativity and meditation on Leonard Lopate's radio show.

link to audio

The Coast Is Clear

2007-01-11T14:11:00.000-06:00

Now that the UPS guy and our mail carrier have come and gone, I think the coast is finally clear for me to take a bath!

MIT's Open Courseware

2007-01-11T03:22:00.000-06:00

Then again, MIT has 80% faculty participation in it's "OpenCourseWare" initiative.

Law School Is In Session

2007-01-11T03:08:00.000-06:00

You don't have to go to Harvard to learn what they learn about evidence at Harvard Law.

The course is taking place in Second Life.

OPML Remix!

2007-01-02T23:05:00.000-06:00

(Beastie Boys music courtesy of The Wired CD)

Swag!

Jamglue

2007-01-02T14:34:00.000-06:00

Feeling musical? Get in touch with your bad, remixing self at Jamglue, a web based remixing community site where you can create your own remixed music right in your browser. It's fun!

"Chip Tunes"

2006-12-30T10:32:00.000-06:00

Chip tunes are songs composed of sounds from video games.

Chip tune artists' sites:

micromusic.net
solipsistic nation
8 bit peoples
8 bit weapon

I found out about chip tunes from the small world podcast.

Knowing Knowledge

2006-12-28T21:41:00.000-06:00

George Siemens' book, Knowing Knowledge, is available here.

Double Meanings

2006-12-15T15:48:00.000-06:00

Through an acquaintance with literature one can learn to appreciate the ironic and often humorous art of double meanings. A recent commercial example of a double meaning in action is VISA's use of the word "take" in its current ad campaign.
A recent and more serious literary example is the title of Brian Vaughan and Niko Henrichon's graphic novel, Pride of Baghdad

Take that, monosemous literalism!

Another Good One

2006-12-15T15:09:00.000-06:00

"Thanks for inspiring me to be true to myself in my writing."

- Words written by a student in Advanced Composition reflecting on the lessons of a semester.

Progress

2006-12-15T14:49:00.000-06:00

"I have learned to be opened minded and not just think that the way I believe . . . is the way everyone should believe."

- Words written on an exit exam by a student in an Advanced Composition course.

A Nice Moment

2006-12-14T17:11:00.000-06:00

It's always flattering when a student asks, "Are you teaching a writing course next semester?"

Photo Realist

2006-12-10T20:52:00.000-06:00

I am fascinated by this documentary about Robert Bechtle, a photorealist painter.

The Best of Friends

2006-12-07T22:14:00.000-06:00

There's nothing like a boy and his lizard.

So What Else Is New

2006-12-07T07:59:00.000-06:00

With all these blogs and feeds everywhere, I find myself always wanting "what's new". I think today I'll take a step back. I think today I'll review, reread, relisten to something not new for a change.

Magical Secrets

2006-12-06T11:01:00.000-06:00

KATHAN BROWN

Pixel Painting Fool!

2006-12-03T15:46:00.000-06:00

Pixelgod Raffaele Picca shows what a pro can do with a simple graphics program like MS Paint. My hero!

On Composing with New Media

2006-12-02T16:51:00.000-06:00

In South Dakota Universities, the curriculum cycle is in full swing. This means that even as I type this, faculty members across many disciplines are designing new programs, doing their best to match their teaching to a rapidly changing world.

The faculty members in our college are no exception. The College of Arts and Sciences at Dakota State University has for a long time been known as a place of mixed media, a place where the interests of academic disciplines meet and mingle with the latest in technology and content production techniques.

In the past we of the "writing faculty" thought long and hard about how the questions and awarenesses of English studies, of literary interpretation and English Composition, might embrace desktop publishing software, text analysis programs and web authoring tools. But when we did think these thoughts, it was always with the sense that these tools were somehow specialized and most likely to be employed by undergraduate majors who would use such tools in their professional careers.

Well, that's not the world we live in anymore. Today, twelve year olds are editing music videos. Nine year olds are posting podcasts. The means of producing "new media" is in the hands of anyone with a computer and an internet connection.

Given the ubiquity of digital media, and the ease of its production, we are looking a bit differently at the interplay of these things and the interests of our discipline. If, as the National Council of Teachers of English has proposed, we live in a time when a "broader" definition of Composition that embraces "multimedia" is not an option but a necessity, how, we are wondering, can we effectively integrate video, audio, image, hypertext, text, and whatever comes next (3D modeling, anyone?) into our own projects and the work we do with our students?

My colleague John Nelson is taking his first steps toward this brave new world and has asked his students to create animated slideshows with spoken narrative and music in the mix. To show he students the sort of thing he's looking for, he made one himself. Here it is:

Listening to John's story I was struck by what he said about raising kids in the presence of "electronic babysitters". I found myself wondering if my own son is too "distracted" by the videos he watches on tv. I try to talk to him about what he sees, but sometimes I can't help thinking that he'd be better off without the box. These thoughts moved me to make this video in return:

My movie doesn't have a spoken narration like John's. I told my story with pictures and titles and music. John kept his focus on the essay he wrote and read to go with his pictures and soundtrack. Ironically, I went "non-printcentric" and let other elements do the talking for me.

Both approaches to digital storytelling are valid forms of expression. So is a simple line drawing like this one I just drew myself:

Or, g-d forbid, a novel.
All these forms can coexist. Each one offers itself as a medium for worthy objects of study and a worthy vehicle for the articulation of worldviews. At this point, it seems, the thing to do is to put ourselves and our discipline out there, to hang on to our questions and see what happens next.

One Laptop Per Child

2006-11-28T22:04:00.000-06:00

The One Laptop Per Child project is becoming quite real.

Hare Today . . .

2006-11-28T20:03:00.000-06:00

The child and I were singing "Little Bunny Foo Foo" for all we were worth when the child asked, "What does a goon look like?" Immediately, I thought of Freddy Krueger. However, I think the goon I managed to draw is much cuter.

A Caramel Macchiato

2006-11-27T23:13:00.000-06:00

Here's a story about a deadly addiction, with apologies to Edgar Allan Poe.

Link to audio

Save it for next Halloween!

Integrated RSS

2006-11-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

In an effort to upgrade our graphic design and layout skills, eight colleagues and I have undergone two days of InDesign training. One of the last things we learned had to do with a related Adobe application called "Bridge", a file management system that simplifies access to files used by programs belonging to Adobe's Creative Suite. Two days of training had given us more than a snapshot of InDesign's impressive page layout capabilities, but what really struck me was one of Bridge's features: an RSS aggregator built right into its interface (here's a screenshot).

By default, the aggregator in Bridge is loaded with two feeds from Adobe's "Design Center". However, the same aggregator could easily facilitate project management by displaying feeds from team blogs or news from a team's manager or organization. Our able trainer, Steve Gagnon, suggested that such a feed might be used to monitor the inventory of stock photo sites which use RSS feeds to advertise new photos added to their collections.

OPML Presentation

2006-10-29T21:13:00.000-06:00

OPML Reader Extension for Firefox

2006-10-26T10:39:00.000-05:00

There is an OPML Reader extension for Firefox. This extension will detect OPML files linked to a web page and let one quickly display them in the Grazr or the Optimal OPML browser.

OPML / RSS Autodiscovery

2006-10-26T01:02:00.000-05:00

Check this out. It is now possible to automatically scan a web page for related OPML and RSS files and browse those feeds through Grazr at the touch of a bookmarklet. This is too much!

Chat Inside Your OPML Outline

2006-10-20T09:18:00.000-05:00

Something else to add to your OPML outline: a Meebo chat widget! Here's a screenshot.

His Pants

2006-10-18T22:34:00.000-05:00

Half-marathon man got married this weekend, in another state, to another very talented librarian. Of course he wanted to look his best for the ceremony, so he chose his wardrobe with exquisite care. A jacket, a tie, a nice shirt, a handsome belt, and of course, a most favorite pair of French-cuffed beige pants. And once he had chosen these pants, after he had culled them from the herd of pants in his possession, what did he do? He left them behind.
Two days before the wedding he calls me. "Dan!" he says, "I left my pants in my house, the pants I want to wear for the wedding. Can you go to my house, get my pants, and give them to a family courier who will bring them on a plane to me in time for the ceremony?"
Of course my friend had to say nothing more. With the help of another friend, I sped to his house and searched his closet and bedroom for the aforementioned pants. But where could they be? Beige pants? Anybody see a nice pair of beige pants?
After a prolonged search (and several pieces of taffy), I called half-marathon man from his kitchen and sadly informed him that try as I (and our other friend) might, we simply could not find his pants. I could hear the disappointment in the librarian's voice. My heart sank. I had failed, and now my friend would have to enter married life half naked, bereft of the pants he evidently treasures with a fondness he normally reserves for first editions.
"Don't worry," he told me. He sounded utterly dejected. "I bought some pants, extra pants. They are the most expensive pants I have ever bought in my life. I was hoping to return them. I was hoping never to wear them. But that's okay." He sighed. "I'll live."
Was that a bit of static I heard on the line, or could it have been a sniffly sob? I'll never know for sure. But the new pants went on, the wedding came off, and the two super librarians are now bound at the seams.
And speaking of seams . . . the story of the pants . . . it gets worse.
"You know, Dan," said Half-marathon man, as we sat eating beige egg rolls, he safely back in South Dakota, "my pants, my beige pants, the ones with the French cuffs, they were in my closet, on a green hanger, the whole time. I found them the instant I got home."
My jaw dropped. My eggroll dropped. "You're kidding!"
"Nope. They were there."
"And they're beige? You're sure? You're sure they're beige?"
"Yep," he said, "they're beige."
Now, here is a picture of Half-marathon man's "beige" pants. And here's "beige". I ask you, are those pants olive, or what?

Grazr In Your Sidebar

2006-10-09T23:14:00.000-05:00

If you're a Firefox user, a nice way to use the Grazr feed and OPML browser is to stick it in your sidebar. Here's how:

Step 1
Navigate to the Grazr URL of your choice.

Step 2
Bookmark the Grazr URL.

Step 3
Open Firefox's Bookmarks directory and select the Grazr URL bookmark.

Step 4
Right click, select "properties" for that bookmark.

Step 5
Check the "open in sidebar" box for that bookmark.

If your students are blogging, create an OPML reading list of their RSS feeds, put the list online and plunk it in a Grazr. Voilà: instant aggregation of your student's writing with links to their blog entries and comments.

A Promising Model for a Collaborative Writing Environment

2006-10-07T22:53:00.000-05:00

As this screenshot shows, I have cobbled together a browser based environment for research and writing. I've combined Grazr (left side), iJot (right side), and the Performancing blog editing extension (bottom).
In the Grazr window one can read the feeds fed to that space through an OPML reading list maintained by a member of the collaboration team.
In the iJot window one can edit text, wiki-like, inside a shared outline.
In the Performancing blog editing extension one can write blog posts that will appear in the Grazr window (providing one's blog feed is linked to the OPML reading list, of course).
At this time this configuration does not work because a shared iJot outline cannot be edited within a frameset. Replace the iJot outline with a shared Writely file, however, and one is in business.
A third vertical pane, containing a digital chat service such as Meebo, could also be added.

Blogging from Dillo

2006-10-07T17:44:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to see if I could post from the Dillo browser that comes with "Damn Small Linux".

FreeMind Has A Flash Browser

2006-10-05T08:03:00.000-05:00

Now FreeMind has a flash browser for your mindmaps!

Open this map in a new window.

Soup for the Soul

2006-10-03T14:29:00.000-05:00

With a nasty cold making the rounds at school, soup seemed the perfect food for lunch. This crock of beefy goodness was cooked by Dr. Moose , who shared it with us. Thanks, Nancy!

Cheers to OPML!

2006-10-01T22:36:00.000-05:00

Still doubtful about my enthusiasm for OPML? Let Hail the Ale's "Beer Grazr" put your doubts (and your thirst) to rest.

Launch this Grazr in a new window.

Ad Free Wiki for k-12

2006-10-01T12:08:00.000-05:00

K-12 educators may now create a wikispaces wiki that is not just free, but free of advertising as well.

Link:
http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers100K

Writing Matters

2006-09-27T23:25:00.000-05:00

Good writing doesn't have to be a literary book like Moby Dick. It doesn't even have to be Dave Barry Slept Here. Good writing can be technical. It can be about computers (imagine!). As long as people can read it, understand it, and enjoy it, the writing is good.

Proof of this maxim can be found in a collection of writings collected in Joel Spolsky's book, The Best Software Writing I. Not all the featured writers are professionals. But all the writing featured is good.

Some history behind the making of Spolsky's book can be heard in a podcast recently produced by IT Conversations. Some of the best advice Spolsky has for writers is to tell stories whenever possible, anticipate readers' questions, answer those questions in the order in which readers are likely to ask them, and, if you have a knack for it, dare to be funny.

Some of the peices of writing collected in Spolsky's book include Style is Substance by Ken Arnold, Passion by Ron Jeffries, Great Hackers by Paul Graham, Autistic Social Software by Danah Boyd, A Quick (and Hopefully Painless) Ride Through Ruby (with Cartoon Foxes) by why the lucky stiff, and Excel as a Database by Rory Blyth. The whole table of contents, plus the introduction, is here.

Geek-Ed Podcast

2006-09-26T23:04:00.000-05:00

On Bob Sprankle's recommendation I am dipping into the Geek-Ed podcast. Verdict: fun, smart, informed, and inspiring!

Read!

2006-09-23T23:53:00.000-05:00

Last night I attended a poetry reading at the Orpheum Theater in Sioux Falls. The event was part of the South Dakota Festival of Books and featured five poets, including Ted Kooser, our former national poet laureate.

Anyway, after the assembled poets had read their assembled poems (which I thoroughly enjoyed hearing, by the way), their leader asked the audience if we had any questions. So I stood up. I couldn't resist. I had a question. I wanted to know what general advice do these well known and well respected poets, each of whom teaches or has taught writing at the college or postgraduate level, give their writing students. To a one, the response was the same. If you want to write, you gotta READ!

Web Guru Wanted

2006-09-20T23:49:00.000-05:00

My school, Dakota State University, is looking to hire a "Coordinator of Electronic Communications". The full job ad can be found here.

Update: we found one.

The Coded Language of FaceBook

2006-09-20T23:34:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I thought I knew my way around Facebook pretty well, but I read something on a profile page today that really stumped me.

As a more Facebook-savvy colleague explained it to me, in the parlance of Facebook, being married is not the same as being married. It's more like "going steady". Hence, one can be married and still be looking. What's more, one can describe oneself as married (but not married) to a friend of the same sex in order to communicate one's sexual liberation, but not necessarily declare for oneself a particular sexual orientation.

And We're Back!

2006-09-14T09:56:00.000-05:00

Yes, the denizens of Beadle Hall have returned to our respective nooks. Now entering the fourth week of the Fall 2006 semester, we begin to sense a rhythm to our classes, office hours, and meetings.

Back to School Shopping

2006-09-06T16:08:00.000-05:00

Something old
Something new
All of it free
Is it useful to you?

Cleaning Day

2006-09-05T15:56:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we cleaned up a bit, adding organizing bins to the child's room. Think we may have gone too far?

Everybody Loves Chair

2006-09-01T23:06:00.000-05:00

WWW = World Wide Writing

2006-08-31T23:19:00.000-05:00

Tim Berners Lee says he always imagined the World Wide Web as a collaborative writing environment.

The Return of the Illustrated Journal

2006-08-31T22:20:00.000-05:00

9/11 Report as Graphic Novel

2006-08-25T02:25:00.000-05:00

Here's a graphic novel adaptation of the 9/11 Report.

New York Times River

2006-08-25T01:57:00.000-05:00

Dave Winer has launched New York Times River, a site which presents the content of the New York Times as if the Gray Lady were a blog.

News from the BBC is also available, updated every ten minutes.

The service is intended for users of Blackberries and other mobile devices.

2006-08-24T18:55:00.000-05:00

This evening we are getting in touch with our inner Sesame. My favorite old Sesame Street muppet sketch of the musical variety, by "Chris and the Alphabeats", puts me in mind of Randy Newman. Who told you you could stop at three?

Wheel Well Kitten

2006-07-21T15:59:00.000-05:00

Today in Madison, SD, a hitchhiking kitten was extracted from pickup truck's wheel well. Whew!

Podcasting Tutorial

2006-07-18T20:51:00.000-05:00

Podcasting tutorial by Franklin McMahon who produces his own podcasts called Creativecow.net and Media Artist Secrets.

Here are the segments of the tutorial (Flash screencast) which cover techniques for recording, tagging, syndicating, and publicizing a podcast.

A Conversation with Mark Peters

2006-07-17T12:36:00.000-05:00

This morning I had a chance to chat with my grad school friend, Mark Peters. Mark is an educator and freelance writer who lives in Chicago. He spoke with me, primarily, about "Wordlustitude", his weblog about words.

Link to audio (20mb mp3)

Fascinated by new words, Mark shared a search technique he uses to discover what he calls "stunt" or "nonce" words (ephemeral words used to stun, amuse, and/or impress). He explained how he uses Google to search for instances of noncy prefixes and suffixes. What fun! Here are two examples to try:

search for esque
search for pseudo

Petrified Knothole

2006-07-12T23:57:00.000-05:00

Petrified knothole, Petrified Wood Park, Lemmon SD.

Close Encounter with Prehistory

2006-07-12T23:52:00.000-05:00

Staring down a dinosaur in Lemmon, SD.

Best Historical Marker Ever!

2006-07-12T23:50:00.000-05:00

Update: I have just unearthed an "authentic" wax cylinder recording of the angry old man, a witness to history, whose words are preserved on the above historical marker.

Full Screen Editing

2006-07-07T12:04:00.000-05:00

If you enjoy the simple things in life, you might enjoy this concept of a simple text editor.

The idea is to help you focus on your text by making the editing field full screen and eliminating all the visual distractions with which your computer normally bombards you.

I find these editors quite effective and plan to use "Darkroom" (the one for Windows) frequently!

Darkroom (Windows)

http://they.misled.us/archives/514

Write Room (Mac)

http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/product/writeroom

JDarkRoom
http://www.duncanjauncey.com/jdarkroom/

Laptops in the Classroom

2006-07-05T07:16:00.000-05:00

Jim Heynderickx has some ideas about laptops in the classroom.

Here, here, and here.