In “Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004,” Paul Boutin of Wired writes that blogs are oh-so-passé. Of course, having just started this blog myself, I was pretty resistant to his commentary, and I feared perhaps a little biased. I felt less biased and more grounded when he went on to say that if you have a blog, pull the plug…and if you’re thinking about starting one, don’t bother. Instead, migrate to Twitter or Facebook or YouTube (blech!) for your self-expression. Because of course, “Commentors are tards,” not to mention “Google won’t...

An interesting concept that I came across while at the Innovations in Learning Conference was that democracy is not the voice of the many, but the voice of the majority. This is obvious, of course…democracy is based on majority rules, and the majority chooses one law or person to govern the rest. I suppose it’s hardly fair when you think about it…the many are distilled down into the one, which makes it impossible for the one to represent the needs of the many…and this is meant to be the most ideal form of government in our Western society. However, it got me thinking: what...

I think this video is a really interesting glimpse into the truth of the changing world we live in. It may look familiar to you – Karl Fisch, an educator at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado, created his original “Shift Happens” presentation as a glimpse into the changing world of communication and learning. It quickly became an Internet phenomenon, with various versions viewed on YouTube more than five million times. The version above has been remixed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment, and updated for 2008. I do think it’s funny that the last statistic they focus...

Here is one of my earlier posts about comics and sequential art. Apologies for the rather academic approach: I tend to get a little theoretical with my musings.  :) The art of comics has been around for over a century, and sequential art is far older than that. Traditionally, comics were presented in print media, and had to submit to the limitations of such media. Will Eisner wrote in Graphic Storytelling that his definition of comics is “the printed arrangement of art and balloons in sequence, particularly in comic books”. Scott McCloud followed suit in Understanding Comics with...

I wish more artists would be willing to share their early mistakes. Most of my (our?) role models are so well-polished by the time I begin to gaze upon – or listen to – their work with wonder, that I think they can’t possibly have started out as horrible as I am now. Or Heaven foribid, worse. That’s why I love the self-publishing culture of the Internet. Whenever I come across a gallery or webcomic, it’s likely that I’ll find some of the artist’s early, early work, the kind of thing that would make a normal person embarrassed. But they share it anyway,...

Well, here is my first post in what I hope to be a long and engaging experiment. I’ve never been much of a blogger (though I love microblogging, very addictive!), but I’m willing to give this a try again. Hopefully I can avoid becoming long-winded…which is something that Twitter has certainly helped me to overcome…at least, I hope so.  :) I originally tried to come up with a theme or subject that this blog could adhere to, but then I decided that perhaps limiting myself is the surest way to boredom. Instead, I’d like this blog to focus on all aspects of my working...