Daily Archives: March 19, 2007

All A-Twitter

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    A few folks have already noticed the cute Twitter box that’s now on the lower left sidebar of my blog.  An even rarer few might have noticed that it only works intermittently — seems that Twitter’s quite popular at the moment, and is not completely functional due to apparent server drain on its resources.
    I’m going to try to Twitter for a while.  I am torn about it’s usefulness — seems like both a handy way to keep track of people that you’re interested in, but it also seems like a procrastination station. 
     We’ll see.  In case you’re curious, here’s my Twitter profile.  Come along for the ride.
    If you want to live vicariously through the Twittering of others, then you might want to check out Twittervision.  Now that’s got potential.  Thanks to Dave for the link.

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Promiscuity in Prose & Poetry

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    I might need to create a category just for Jonathan Lethem.  He’s doing some interesting work.  (And I like his writing.  Especially Motherless Brooklyn.)
    Here’s a link to and a description of his Promiscuous Materials Project.   Might be of interest to those of you interested in digging a little deeper into his ideas on appropriation and art leading to more art.   Basically, he’s released some of his writing for others to use in different formats.  Here’s that description:

I like art that comes from other art, and I like seeing my stories
adapted into other forms. My writing has always been strongly sourced
in other voices, and I’m a fan of adaptations, apropriations, collage,
and sampling.

I recently explored some of these ideas in an essay
for Harper’s Magazine. As I researched that essay I came more and more
to believe that artists should ideally find ways to make material free
and available for reuse. This project is a (first) attempt to make my
own art practice reflect that belief.

            

I especially like that he’s published some of what’s been done with his words.  I first caught this on an interview he gave to Fresh Air, and got to hear a chunk of John Linnell’s version (at the top of the page)of one of Lethem’s songs.  Good TMBG-y stuff.

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Strategery

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    I’m part of a team that’s putting together a really neat opportunity for some NWP sites to gather and think strategically about their online presences and how they can support their site work, and vice versa.  I’ve got plenty of thoughts about tools to use and examples and whatnot, but I’m trying to think right now about particular resources that we might make available both at our retreat as well as to others who want to think strategically about their online work. 
    When I say strategically, what I mean is that instead of thinking about what we can do, we want to encourage folks to think about what they should do, who should be involved, and how that can impact their sites, their work, and their different stakeholders.  Basically, we want to encourage strategic and critical thinking about online work. 
    Just because we can build something doesn’t necessarily mean that we should, right? 
    It’s a tricky question for me.  I stand very proudly(sometimes) in the "look how cool this is!" camp — even though I know that good teaching and good tech implementation is about more than just the wow factor.
    There needs to be a good reason that we do what we do.   Neat, as I’ve said before and will say again, is not a pedagogically-sound reason to do something.
Anyway, before I wander too far into reflective land, what tools or resources might you be using to think critically about the online presence for your school, group, or organization?  How do you make these types of decisions?  Whom do you involve?

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