First, a disclaimer: I have not written a textbook, and have no plans to in the near future. But I have to say, this article in Slate that claims that any professor who assigns their own textbook is a Gilderoy Lockhart – or in other words, an “egomaniacal twit” – really angered me. Much as …
I logged into my blog tonight intending to write about the life of an academic with reference to the “true” meaning of spring break. What I didn’t realize when I went to update my plug-ins was that a change in Twitter’s API would render my Twitter app for WordPress useless (I use Twitter Widget Pro …
The New York Times article over the weekend entitled “Relax! You’ll Be More Productive” really hit home for me, and not just because I really enjoy a good afternoon nap. The article reviews current research to suggest that not only should people take more time to vacation and sleep, but also that people tend to …
Continue reading ‘We need to relax! Or at least switch gears’ »
This saga begins with an all-too-common experience: Trying to get a relative home for Christmas. But for me, this became a cautionary tale on how companies can fail using social media, particularly Twitter, to help out stranded customers – or how they can succeed. My sister Amanda was supposed to be coming home to Madison …
Continue reading ‘Dealing with Draco: Twitter and holiday travel woes’ »
How we choose to watch political debates changes what we get out of them. That’s not really news: scholars have been discussing this effect since the first televised presidential debates in 1960. Popular wisdom suggested Nixon’s poor appearance (“death-like”) on TV hurt his standing compared to Kennedy’s vitality, later supported by finding that people who …