An attempt to migrate my Blogger posts to WordPress on my site (without backing up) has killed my template as well as some time. Interestingly enough, Google cache and archive.org don’t have backup copies either, so some of my template links and blog features are gone for the moment.
Category: Personal
Attack of the Career-Killing Blogs – When academics post online, do they risk their jobs? By Robert S. Boynton
Here’s a rather pessimistic view of blogging in academia (better read it before it expires)…stories of blogging assistant professors being denied tenure, arguably because of things said online.
- Free Speech: I’ve been hearing lately about the lack of protection for the speech of untenured educators. It seems odd that a few years of proving oneself earns them the right of free speech.
- Identity: Blogging and other means of creating online identity are becoming the norm (rather than an exception…take a look at the latest Pew Report). It may be that Google offers the means to more efficiently get to know someone, but this could have been also done by spending time together in the real world. This hasn’t traditionally happened, so why change because of efficiency.
- Education: Good thinkers who aren’t afraid to take an intellectual risk (and who aren’t shy when it comes to technology) may be an asset to an institution. Having the courage to think on your feet and put words out for the world to see shouldn’t be considered a weakness.
These are more fleeting thoughts than firm arguments, I realize. Perhaps it’s time to start editing blog posts more closely.
Flockin browser
I just received access to try out a new web browser called “Flock.” While it’s built on Firefox (my browser of choice), it is enhanced by a number of “social” features such as blogging, photo and bookmark sharing. Being on a social-networking kick lately, I’m glad that I’ll get the chance to check it out.
So far, it’s crashed whenever I’ve tried to post to my blog. In its defense, it is only on version 0.5 🙂
Burden of multitasking
I take it back…
A couple of posts ago, I partially retracted my feelings on the effects of computer-mediated distractions in light of greater research (finally got that link too). I’ve come to a point where I can’t deny the fact that the news scrolling by on my Google Desktop 2.0 sidebar, the urge to peak at e-mail, the urge to start a chat, the need to check a random fact I’m wondering about on the web (or do ALL of these at the same time) is still putting a crimp in productivity.
And there is at least one study on the ill effects of multitasking to back it up.
And yet, with Expose on a Mac, multiple desktops on Linux, and well, whatever on Windows, our operating systems just make it easier to fall into the trap.
If anyone is interested in writing a multi-platform “lock” on multitasking (something to make it harder to switch applications or fire up the web browser), my switch to paperless could desperately use it.
Edit
One way that appears to work fairly well in Windows is to do an “end process” on explorer (start explorer again by using “new task” and typing in “explorer”).
I’m thinking in KDE, one could just collapse the panel (not the same as quitting it altogether, but perhaps enough to put one in the mental mode of not multitasking).
And for OSX, it looks as though it’s also possible to quit the Finder.
While these solutions are by no means perfect, it may be enough to just remove initial temptation. It seems as though putting the mind in a context of concentration (like you might when sitting in a comfortable chair with an engaging book) may be possible…perhaps there are additional technological answers.