Just got the e-mail confirmation that I’ll be presenting at the American Anthropological Association (AAA isn’t just for cars) National Convention this fall on my U of C bot’s research. This is awesome news on multiple counts! So DC here I come (at least in October … make that December).
research and writings at the crossroads of journalism, cultural anthropology, technology, and reading.
Archives for category: praxis
Just got this be-bop, spam bot mashup and had to share:
from: Romana Carter
subject: anti-technology, bugejaor on the real relationship
Good afternoon. How is it going? Email me at jj@linkmailmessage.info only. I am lonely girl. I will reply with my pics 5-year-old son recompense. I note and marketing pitches are evaluating claims
Wow. There’s a lot going on in there. I’m not quite sure if she wants to send me pictures of her 5 year old son (Definite mood killer there Romana) or said 5 year old is going to pay me for looking at pictures of his mom (Equally creepy). I am glad that she is taking my marketing pitches seriously.
BTW, Bugeja happens to be the family name of the Maltese Counts della Senia. What the della Senia have against technology is unknown to me.
I just wrapped a three hour workshop on Variable Data Printing for the International Graphic Arts Education Association (IGAEA)’s 2007 National Conference currently being held at RIT. It’s a teach the teacher type event. I spent most of the weekend preparing my material, and, of course, once I got on the ground, I scrapped about half of it.
Variable Data Prints are print products that are customized by pulling information out of a database. The primary use is direct advertisements (what some folks outside the biz commonly refer to as junk mail). The workshop, based on the class I’ve been teaching for the last year or so, presented a method for introducing students to the marketing, technology, and visual aspects of creating VDP.
Or at least that was the plan. As usual, once you begin to execute things change. The lecture part stayed mainly the same. But I changed the exercises pretty significantly. Things definitely need to be more “tactical.” Next time I’ll use more step-by-step hand outs. I think I avoided them because I wasn’t sure if they would limit the need to have an instructor – the concern of going too far down the path of a self taught workshop.
It’s been a lot of movement as of late. Last week I was all over God’s green earth lecturing: Tuesday was Cornell, Wednesday I spoke at a conference here at RIT, Friday brought me to the suburbs of Cleveland. Yesterday, I had a late night drive to Buffalo to pick Dre up from the airport after her flight to Rochester was cancelled (she had been visiting a friend in the DC area).
All that hustle and bustle has left me a little burned out. Getting back into doing all the real important teaching tasks (lesson prep, grading) was giving me some problems. But a brief exchange with a student just changed all that.
Walking out of Java Wally’s, our on campus coffee shop, I ran into a student whose taking my Principles of Printing course this quarter. She had just gotten back from a weekend, out of town, job interview. Just before she left, I recommended some “tactical readings” to help prep her for questioning.
Not only did the interview go really well, the readings, and my class in general really helped her prepare for it. She went out of her way to thank me for helping her prepare and told me about how she was able use what she had learned in class discussions to ask good questions.
I don’t think students appreciate how important those moments are for us (teachers). I left Java’s completely recharged and ready to tackle the pile of grading waiting for me in my office.
Sorry for the delay in this announcement, there have been many mitigating circumstances.
The computer was smart. I have been offered a position in Cornell’s Anthropology PhD Program with funding.
![[Cornell Logo]](https://apply.embark.com/grad/cornell/response/22/custom/images/culogo.gif "[Cornell Logo]")
Some of you already knew this. Others guessed it. For a variety of reasons I needed to keep it under wraps until I had the chance to talk with some key people. I’m really excited! Blown away in fact. I’ll be working on Citizen Journalism in the US. I’ve already been back and forth a few times to Ithaca and this really seems to be the program for me.
As to why not much blogging has gone on, there’s always a balance. With good comes bad. Dre’s had another lupus flare and spent time in Rochester General Hospital. We keep learning more about this disease and with that comes a lot of frustrations. Today we found out that things are a little more complex than we had thought. And right now that’s weighing a bit on my mind.
We’re both really excited about the future and there’s lots more to come over the next few weeks.