Category: New Media

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I might need to hit lotto

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Apple finally got around to offering pricing and purchasing options for the new MacPro on their web site. Unfortunately the listing is just before the Christmas holiday and a tiny bit too late for me to ask Santa, or my wife, to put one of them under the tree for me this year. This is probably a good thing since the fully maxed out version of the MacPro with a 12 core Intel Xeon E5 processor, 64 GB of ram, Dual AMD FirePro D700 GPUs,  and a 1 TB internal flash base hard drive clocks in at Continue reading “I might need to hit lotto”

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#tweetMyClass: Social Media for the Classroom


I was recently part of a panel discussion at the 2013 CUNY Information Technology Conference on the academic uses of social media. The presentation included short introductions, followed by a roundtable discussion, in which the educators on the panel examined which social media practices they had employed over the years succeeded and failed.

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Digital Directive: The NY Observer Interview

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A few months back I was questioned by a writer from the New York Observer on my role as the Academic Director of the Communication and Media program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies (SPS). The writer was interested in discussing the online nature of my program and what sets it apart from other traditional and internet based learning environments. Well, today I found out that I was prominently quoted in the Educated Observer, a special advertising supplement to the NY Observer, on the work we are doing over at SPS.

A digital copy of the article, and my statements on the programs at SPS, can be found here.

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Digital Scholarship Revisited

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Today I attended a presentation by Professor Kathleen Fitzpatrick on the role that open access and new forms of peer review will play on the future of scholarly communication. Professor Fitzpatrick is Director of Scholarly Communication at the Modern Language Association (MLA) and Visiting Research Professor of English at New York University. She is the author of Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy. Her writings are among the most respected on the subject of scholarly transformation and were a great influence on my research into digital scholarship and the need to reform tenure and promotion standards for technology engaged faculty.

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New York Cine Radio – The Halloween Podcast

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Tom Seymour and the rest of the guys over at New York Cine Radio asked me to Skype in for their Halloween podcast special and do a small comic book and nerd culture segment. It was a new idea that they wanted to try out and the group thought that I would be the perfect person for the job.

I talked a little about the new Batman: Arkham Origins video game as well as some of the Continue reading “New York Cine Radio – The Halloween Podcast”

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Arkham Origins is gonna be sick!!!

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After months of waiting Batman: Arkham Origins dropped tonight. The new Arkham is the followup to the wildly popular Batman inspired video games Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. I just picked up my copy from GameStop. There was a surprisingly small line for the game. It was nothing as crazy as the launch for Grand Theft Auto V, which made me happy and a little sad. I snagged the collector’s edition, and the season pass that has all of the character skins and downloadable content. I never usually get all the extras but this game is gonna be sick.  I thought about

Continue reading “Arkham Origins is gonna be sick!!!”

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GTA 5 Midnight Launch

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I don’t look forward to many games anymore. Maybe it is a sign of me getting older and becoming jaded. But here I am, standing on a line outside of GameStop, waiting to pick up my copy of  Grand Theft Auto V (GTA 5). This is the largest grouping of single dudes I’ve ever seen that wasn’t at a sporting event or in front of a gay bar. There were maybe five girls on a line of about 200 people, and I think three of them were buying the game for the kids they brought with them.

Thankfully I am second on line because the weed smell coming off these people is giving me a headache. My son better appreciate me picking this up for him. If I didn’t work with this demographic on a regular basis, or have kids of my own, I might be worried about the future. But once again I digress.

I really want to stay up all night with this game because all of the early Continue reading “GTA 5 Midnight Launch”

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Dual 27s son! They spinnin’, they spinnin’!

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My old flat screen monitor blew out at the beginning of the summer much to my dismay. It was an older HannsG 27in LED monitor that I think I paid about 500 bucks for it a few years back. I remember being ecstatic when it arrived because it was going to be my first dual monitor setup. Well, I have been so satisfied with a dual monitor system that the thought of relying on just my ancient ten year old 20in Planar flat screen was intolerable. I searched the regular sites like TigerDirect, NewEgg and Amazon until I found an inexpensive monitor to snag. I was shocked to find out how cheap monitors have become. So shocked in fact that I figured I might as well replace the older Planar monitor just so I had a matched set that displayed things at the same resolution.

I picked up two AOC 27-Inch LED Backlit Monitors for less than Continue reading “Dual 27s son! They spinnin’, they spinnin’!”

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CUNY SPS – New Office Space

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Today was my first day at the new office. There is a ton of work that needs to be done and I am looking forward to getting underway. I have been asked to take charge of the Communication and Media program at the CUNY School of Professional Studies and to help redefine the degree in light of the recent technological and societal shifts brought forth by digital innovation.

I must say that it was kinda weird to be Continue reading “CUNY SPS – New Office Space”

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You will be missed

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I was saddened to hear that Red Burns, founder of NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, passed away earlier this week. Red was my academic adviser and one of the first people that I met when I arrived to study at ITP in the late 90s. Oddly enough, despite her small stature, she was also one of the most intimidating people I have ever met. And I say that as a person that is not easily intimidated. My first impression of Red was that she was not someone to trifle with, piss off, or just generally wind up on her bad side. Over time I was fortunate to see that there was a kinder and gentler side to her. Red cared deeply for her students, but she demanded the best from them. She was a formidable personality and utterly fearless in her approach to life.

Over the past few days my Facebook and Twitter feeds have been inundated by posts from friends and fellow ITP students who were influenced heavily by Red. She was truly a pioneer in the fields of tech education and digital expression. The overwhelming theme that comes through in all of the posts is that Red, and the program that she created, changed their lives for the better. Continue reading “You will be missed”