Category Archives: technology

THATCamp Feminisms West, a new con

Yeah, I didn’t know what THATCamp Feminisms West was either. Honestly, I’m still not sure.

It’s part of THATCamp, which is a collection of academic unconferences. From what I gleaned from their site, it’s the conversation part of an academic conference without the paper-reading part. I have a feeling it’ll feel more like the nerd cons I’ve been to, which will be great.

I’m not sure yet if I’m going, as they have an application registration process. And they keep their cons small, so I may have submitted the registration form too late.

But I hope I get to go. It would be nice to meet other people who are as interested in technology and the ways social media is shaping us and our understanding of ourselves. I’d like to learn more about what I should know and what ideas are being turned over. And it be nice to have a conversation with people about what I find fascinating without their eyes immediately glazing over (ever an optimist).

Just another possible adventure in the near future!

Update: I just heard back from THATCamp Feminisms West, and I’m definitely going! I’m quite excited about this fact! I can’t wait to meet everyone and chat!

Strike Against SOPA & PIPA

Today the internet is on strike. I am joining the strike against censorship. Because the Senate has PIPA up for a vote soon that would set in place rules that would fundamentally change the way the internet works in order to stop piracy. I’ve written about it here and discuss further here. Below you will find links to sites with more information and ways to contact your congressional representatives, because the House has SOPA, so both branches of the legislature need to hear from you. There are also links to contact the US State Department if you’re out of country.

Yes, people who create should be paid. The megacorporations that lobbied for the drafting of this act should adjust to the market instead of breaking what everyone uses because some people don’t feel the need to pay for their product.

Join The Strike! and add this to your site

The three most definitive articles on SOPA and PIPA: Free Speech, Problems, Security

Kindle Fire or Nook Color?

E-readers are the new hot thing, in case you’ve been living under a rock.

But there are a billion choices. Which, puts me in a conundrum. But I’ve looked through a few and narrowed (for the moment) down to 2 choices that seem like they will be the best fit.

Barnes & Noble’s Nook Color and Amazon’s Kindle Fire.

They seem pretty similar, at least on paper.

What I like about the Nook Color – It’s available now; it’s epub compatible along with more file types (which means it’ll be more useful for my desired field of study); it seems easier to make my own outside of the app store.

What I’m not so much a fan of – The store isn’t the first with books; it’s a little heavier than the Kindle Fire; it has a slower processor.

What I like about the Kindle Fire – It’s more of a tablet without belonging to Apple; it’s got a faster processor; it has more books in it’s bookstore.

What I’m not so much a fan of – It’s got Amazon’s wonky DRM without a plausible workaround; it’s not as versatile in its file reading; it’s not available yet (which means that there’s no regular person reviews and I have to wait).

I’m leaning toward a Nook Color, and taking the hit on the hardware, because it comes with less technical annoyances than the Kindle Fire. But I’m not decided, because they aren’t particularly cheap, and I’m looking for a reader that will be the most versatile and provide the most help for trying out new media formats for reading.

So I’m posing the question to you, the readers. Which e-reader/tablet will be the best bet for the money? Leave your thoughts, including other readers I may have overlooked, in the comments! Thanks!

An almost existential crisis upon reading “Conservative Pie; Republicans Introduce Legislation Redefining Pi”

The current world bordersThe other morning, I saw a tweet from Chris Hardwick (who is a hilarious human that I don’t know personally because he’s kinda famous). I followed the link because the idea that a Republican Representative from Alabama introducing actual legislation to make pi=3 was almost unbelievable.

So I read through the article on the tiny phone screen and caught just enough in the tone to know research would be required until I was sold. I tend toward skepticism with most information, especially when said info comes from the internets. After I pulled up a laptop, I found, to my relief, that the article was on a comedy section of the main site. A quick search through the U.S. House of Reps (a remarkably user-friendly site, which made me happy for at least some of what my taxes fund) substantiated my credulity – the bill defied discovery through all possible means. Continue reading An almost existential crisis upon reading “Conservative Pie; Republicans Introduce Legislation Redefining Pi”

Busy? Perhaps, but definitely alive.

I woke up this morning at 6:40 for unknown reasons. I hardly ever wake up this early, even intentionally, so why I would wake up at this unfamiliar hour, I don’t know. But I was awake and not going back to sleep.

 

I left my computer on to install free antivirus software (avast! Home edition which announces found viruses in a manner more suited to submarine warfare) so I decided to open it up and see where the install stood. Which then led me online to register the new software, so of course I got sidetracked catching up on my twitter feed, which then led to Mur Lafferty’s login for her Inside Story promotion of her newest work (still in progress) War and a crazy video of a Japanese(?) woman wrestler demonstrating something called a shining wizard posted by another author, Matt Wallace, which led to think.

 

I do a lot of stuff.

 

Not that I accomplish much, or do things that are always worthwhile, but I do a lot of stuff. It’s now just after 8am and not only have I done the things listed in the last paragraph, but I’ve started this blog which will be posted soon. After this post, I’ll finish editing the .jpg that I need for a website banner. And then I’ll get ready for the day, pick up danishes, and go to my Wednesday morning coffee hangout. No wonder I forget important tasks and dates – I have so many connections and tasks and responsibilities, it’s a wonder I can still find anything.

 

And yet, as much as I have in my head, I wouldn’t give everything up. Not that I always can or want to be as connected as I am, but when I leave some of the connections dangling, I miss them. In moving recently, I had so much in my head, that there were quite a few connections I had to let go. I couldn’t read all my friends’ blogs or write my own. I can see the signs of neglect in these areas, and now I am digging in and picking up. And it makes me happy, which is something I haven’t really been lately because of the level of stress I was running my life.

 

I’m seeing the details of life that I have been missing – not just the posts I didn’t get to read, but the colors in the sunset and the flowers on the trees and the green of the grass. This is a good time to wake up and see the world because the world is waking up and putting on a show.

 

But now it’s time for me to start getting closer to starting my day; it’s almost 8:30…

XFN

So I was creating a blogroll today here. I’m not entirely sure what a blogroll really is, so I renamed it “blogs I read” because it seems like they’re close enough for me. In the course of doing that, there was this funny little section of the page to add links labeled “link relationship (xfn).” It looks like this:

wordpress-link-xfn

Yeah, I didn’t know what it was either. So I follow the link the screenshot shows and I found this:

xfn-quick-explanation

And I think this is fantastic. I hear a lot about how the internet is separating everyone and making us all more disconnected. And yet this connects people who use the internet and link to each other. This type of linking works beautifully to demonstrate how all the underlined words really represent people who know each other. I love that as we move more of our interaction only and express more of ourselves through writing, we are working out how to express our relationships through the written code that defines our world.