Culture and Society
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A Response to Chris Hedges’ “Retribution for a World Lost in Screens”
Bob Stein posted a link to Chris Hedges’ essay “Retribution for a World Lost in Screens” on Stein’s Facebook page. I responded, and Stein asked for clarification; this is my attempt to provide…
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Best 404 Evah
There’s something of an art to a proper 404 page. You want to let the user know that she’s taken a bad step, and you want to help her find the correct path…
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On The Use of Sources, Citations, and Links
As educators, we spend a great deal of time trying to teach students how to research, how to use sources, and, perhaps most importantly of all, how to tell a good source from…
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On Homeschooling
Tony Woodlief has written a thoughtful, and thought-provoking, opinion piece about why he and his spouse have chosen to homeschool their children. He writes, in part: The reason we’ve broken with tradition, or…
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Yog on Online Moderation
James D. Macdonald, SF author and exceedingly experienced online moderator (remember Yog Sysop? That’s him) offers some rules for moderation under the heading: Here’s what moderators need to know: a) Sure, there’s freedom…
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Blogging as Conversation
Tor, my favorite fantasy/sf publisher, has just gone public with their new Web site, one that has been re-designed with community engagement with content as a core principle. Patrick Nielsen Hayden, an editor…
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Online Communities, Women, and Misogyny
I’ve posted already about the hateful way Kathy Sierra was treated by other bloggers. The reaction has been interesting. Yesterday Chris Locke and Kathy each posted, collaboratively, their takes on the specific incidents,…
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Death Threats are Not OK
Blogger and UI expert, Kathy Sierra, had to cancel her talk at the Etech conference, because of really really nasty death threats, and threats of sexual assault. You can read about it here.…
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On Building a User Community
Kathy Sierra, one of the Head First authors, has an extremely useful and thoughtful post on Building a User Community. This is a post from someone who gets community, and the importance of…
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The Influence of Individuals
I’ve been watching an interesting saga unfold; bear with me while I expound. I’m a member of a community for writers called “Absolute Write.” It’s a combination of a resource site and an…