Reply to Alex Gagnon’s Google Paradox
[Tried adding a comment directly on Alex Gagnon's Posterous blog, but it kept stalling. So I'll post this here, which may make for a different kind of interaction. Besides, I'd like to blog a bit...
View ArticleEspace social et innovation ouverte
Présentation pour le panel « Innovation ouverte et living labs, la divergence cohésive par les réseaux sociaux ?» organisé par Patrick Dubé dans le cadre de la dixième conférence internationale webcom...
View ArticleOpen Letter: UnivCafé Testimonial
Here’s a slightly edited version of a message I sent about University of the Streets Café. I realize that my comments about it may sound strange for people who haven’t participated in one of their...
View ArticleFuture of Learning Content
If indeed Apple plans to announce not just more affordable textbook options for students, but also more interactive, immersive ebook experiences… Forecasting next week’s Apple education event (Dan...
View Article“Booth Babe” Controversy
I posted the following to the class forums for my two sections of SOCI203 “Introduction to Society”. This might be a useful context to discuss journalism, gender issues, feminism as equality between...
View ArticleActivism and Journalism
In yesterday’s “Introduction to Society” class, we discussed a number of things related to activism, journalism, labour issues, and even Apple and Foxconn (along with slacktivism, Kony 2012, mass...
View ArticleEnergized by Bret Victor
Just watched Bret Victor’s powerful video: Inventing on Principle | CUSEC Simply put, watching it was a lifechanging moment, for me. In some ways, Victor’s talk was deeply philosophical, though it’s...
View ArticleBean Counters and Ecologists
[So many things in my drafts, but this one should be quick.] Recently met someone who started describing their restaurant after calling it a “café”. The “pitch” revolved around ethical practices, using...
View ArticleYoga and Community in Contemporary North America
Last night, Matthew Remski’s chapter on yoga “culture” served as the basis for a conversation on yoga and communities. Roseanne Harvey had invited some panelists and like-minded people to join her at...
View ArticleTwenty Years Online
This month marks the 20th anniversary of my first Internet account. I don’t remember the exact date but I know it was in late summer 1993, right before what became known as “Eternal September”. The...
View ArticleFinally! A Drinking Age Debate
This may be more significant than people seem to assume: university and college administrators in the United States are discussing the potential effects of reverting the drinking age back to the age of...
View ArticleBlogging Academe
LibriVox founder and Montreal geek Hugh McGuire recently posted a blog entry in which he gave a series of nine arguments for academics to blog: Why Academics Should Blog Hugh’s post reminded me of one...
View ArticleBlogging and Literary Standards
I wrote the following comment in response to a conversation between novelist Rick Moody and podcasting pioneer Chris Lydon: Open Source » Blog Archive » In the Obama Moment: Rick Moody. In keeping with...
View ArticleGender and Culture
A friend sent me a link to the following video: JC Penney: Beware of the Doghouse | Creativity Online. In that video, a man is “sent to the doghouse” (a kind of prison for insensitive men) because he...
View ArticlePrivilege: Library Edition
When I came out against privilege, over a month ago, I wasn’t thinking about libraries. But, last week, while running some errands at three local libraries (within an hour), I got to think about...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Influence and Butterflies
Seems like “influence” is a key theme in social media, these days. An example among several others: Influenceur, autorité, passeur de culture ou l’un de ces singes exubérants | Mario tout de go. In...
View ArticleSocial Networks and Microblogging
Microblogging (Laconica, Twitter, etc.) is still a hot topic. For instance, during the past few episodes of This Week in Tech, comments were made about the preponderance of Twitter as a discussion...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Présence féminine et culture geek (Journée Ada Lovelace) #ald09
En 2009, la journée de la femme a été hypothéquée d’une heure, dans certaines contrées qui sont passées à l’heure d’été le 8 mars. Pourtant, plus que jamais, c’est aux femmes que nous devrions accorder...
View ArticleActively Reading: "Teach Naked" sans PowerPoint
Some Diigo comments on a Chronicle piece on moving lectures out of the classroom. (Or, if you ask the piece’s author and some commenters, on PowerPoint as a source of boredom.) I’d like to transform...
View ArticleBeer Eye for the Coffee Guy (or Gal)
Judged twelve (12) espresso drinks as part of the Eastern Regional Canadian Barista Championship (UStream). [Never watched Queer Eye. Thought the title would make sense, given both the “taste” and even...
View ArticleGroupthink in Action
An interesting situation which, I would argue, is representative of Groupthink. As a brief summary of the situation: a subgroup within a larger group is discussing the possibility of changing the...
View ArticleDevelopment and Quality: Reply to Agile Diary
Former WiZiQ product manager Vikrama Dhiman responded to one of my tweets with a full-blown blogpost, thereby giving support to Matt Mullenweg‘s point that microblogging goes hand-in-hand with...
View ArticleWhat Not to Tweet
Here’s a list I tweeted earlier. Twenty Things You Should Never, Ever Tweet for Fear of Retaliation from the Tweet Police Lists. Too difficult to follow. Do’s and don’ts. Who died and made you...
View ArticleIntimacy, Network Effect, Hype
Is “intimacy” a mere correlate of the network effect? Can we use the network effect to explain what has been happening with Quora? Is the Quora hype related to network effect? I really don’t feel a...
View ArticleNo Buy NoHo
Something in which we can participate. Will it stop consumerism? Nope. Will it make a statement? Yup.
View ArticleMicrosoft Disinforms on Open-Source and Free-Software
Can Windows and Linux Learn to Play Nice?: A commercial company has to build intellectual property, while the GPL, by its very nature, does not allow intellectual property to be built, making the two...
View ArticleInstructors and Open Textbooks
Freeload Press is publishing difficult-to-read textbooks as free, ad-supported downloads. Interestingly, the Slashdot thread sparked by this news item revolves more around the issue of cost-prohibitive...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Music, Food, Industries, Piracy
000ady6y (PNG Image, 200×125 pixels) Noticed it in Steal This Film. A very appropriate message. Process over product. Music is not a commodity. Food does not grow on profits. Blogged with Flock
View ArticleAlcohol Marketing, Craft Beer, and Responsible Drinking
[UPDATE: Press release. Much clearer than the Hour article…] This could potentially be big for craft beer. A code of ethics for alcohol adverts. Hour.ca – News – Alcohol marketing becomes ethical A bit...
View ArticleThe Big Zune Debacle
The device isn’t out yet but it’s generating a lot of negative reaction. Partly based on this: Zune Insider Blog: Answers to (some) of Your Zune Questions “I made a song. I own it. How come, when I...
View ArticleIndividualism, Freedom, and Food
A surprisingly superficial podcast episode on what could have been a very deep subject. Open Source » Blog Archive » The End of Free Will? start a conversation about manipulation, persuasion and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Defending Quebec's Cegep System
Disclaimer: So far, I’ve taught at six universities and one college in Indiana, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, and Quebec. In Quebec, I’ve taught at Montreal’s Université de Montréal (French-speaking)...
View ArticleI Like Car Ads
Lots of people are talking about issues with advertisement in today’s stuffy mediascape. I stopped watching television a while ago and I rarely read offline print but I do “consume media” online. And...
View ArticleClik here to view.
And We're Still Lecturing
Forty years ago this month, students in Paris started a movement of protests and strikes. May ’68. Among French-speakers, the events are remembered as the onset of a cultural revolution of sorts (with...
View ArticleHandhelds for the Rest of Us?
Ok, it probably shouldn’t become part of my habits but this is another repost of a blog comment motivated by the OLPC XO. This time, it’s a reply to Niti Bhan’s enthusiastic blogpost about the eeePC:...
View ArticleThe Need for Social Science in Social Web/Marketing/Media (Draft)
[Been sitting on this one for a little while. Better RERO it, I guess.] Sticking My Neck Out (Executive Summary) I think that participants in many technology-enthusiastic movements which carry the term...
View Article
