C L A Y F O X

New playpen

I just installed a MediaWiki 1.4.7 package on Clayfox’s shared Unix box. It actually wasn’t such an ordeal, even for a non-techie. But its coding conventions and image processing are just different enough from SnipSnap to make me wade around through what seems like endless documentation. Whatever doesn’t bore me to death will make me …

August 23, 2005 – 11:46 am | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Metawriting | Comments (0)

Defending the group

An essay by Clay Shirky, called “A Group Is Its Worst Enemy”, has been floating around for a couple of years – but I just ran across it. It’s an interesting meditation on group dynamics and social software, shaped by crushed hopes for Usenet as well as a book about neurotics thwarting group goals (by …

August 11, 2005 – 5:21 pm | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Metawriting, Wikiwatch | Comments (0)

Visualizing wikis: History Flow

It’s all in the visualization. When I describe wikis to someone still grappling with the oddness of the word ‘wiki’, my description inevitably kicks into abstractions about joint authoring, organic development, networked interactivity. What is likely to lodge, in an innocent auditor’s mind, is an amorphous sense of wide-open vulnerability: You mean, anyone can change …

August 10, 2005 – 10:13 am | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Metawriting, Wikiwatch | Comments (0)

ALA | Intellectual Freedom

July 25, 2005 – 10:08 am | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Libraryworld | Comments (0)

Row row Rosie boat

Scott & the ladies go cruising – along with 500 other gay families. All aboard!

July 23, 2005 – 5:40 pm | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Play, Travel | Comments (0)

Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki

July 22, 2005 – 6:36 pm | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Libraryworld, Wikiwatch | Comments (0)

Selection sources for college library e-resources

1. ACRL Internet reviews, listed chronologically, and the ACRL Index to Internet Resources, grouped by topic. 2. Choice reviews (GSLIS access only), advanced search: electronic format, outstanding titles, last five years. 3. ARBA online (GSLIS access only), ‘website’ subject search 4. Keeping up with the Joneses: Dartmouth Library’s Recent Digital and Electronic Acquisitions 5. Electronic …

July 20, 2005 – 3:28 pm | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Libraryworld | Comments (0)

The Chronicle, 7/15/2005: Romantic Poetry Meets 21st-Century Technology

This week’s Chronicle of Higher Education writes up RAP. A relatively thorough treatment – kicks off with “dumb luck” and goes from there. There’s a little discussion board accompanying the article. My favorite post so far: ‘English prof’ writes: “As for, ‘And some enthusiasts say that the technology can actually change students’ writing for the …

July 12, 2005 – 2:48 pm | By Mark Phillipson | Posted in Metawriting, Wikiwatch, Work | Comments (0)

North Haven 2005

In which someone turns 40, someone turns 39, someone works the road & refuses to wave. In which Maine is warmer & we sing less but dance more than in years past. In which the sky is clear and bright all weekend, & we once again escape the Fourth.