March 27, 2008
Time Warp
So about a week before Super Tuesday I ordered some swag from the John Edwards campaign - a button and a magnetic bumper sticker. The very next day he dropped out of the Democratic race. Fantastic. A couple weeks later I got my button in the mail, no mention of the sticker.
Today I received a package on my doorstep - it was an odd shape, not fitting with anything I've ordered recently. I opened it up to find my magnetic bumpersticker, and a note telling me that my lawn poster was out of stock. Not having a lawn, I had never ordered a poster for it. But the note told me not to worry, instead they had sent me an item of greater value. The odd shape in the package was in fact a plastic mug. Not only does this object pound into me the irony of my choice of candidate, but it also has written on it the motto "Tomorrow begins today!"
I feel like I'm either playing an ARG or someone in the past is trying to contact me via the US Postal Service.
Posted by rosenblj at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)
September 4, 2007
"Fitting In" accepted to ISWC Doctoral Colloquium
An updated abstract of my thesis paper was accepted to the Doctoral Colloquium at the International Symposium on Wearable Computers:
"The purpose of the colloquium is to offer graduate students interested in the wearable/mixed and augmented reality fields an opportunity to present their ideas and research plans and get feedback from the community...
The student colloquium will take place on the 10th of October (a day before the main conference). Authors of accepted abstracts are to give a presentation of the research ideas and gather feedback from well established researchers in the field. Authors will also be expected to present a poster of their work during demonstration session at ISWC (October 12).
The abstracts will be published in the ISWC extended proceedings that will be distributed during the conference and will be made available to the public electronically."
Posted by rosenblj at 10:21 AM | Comments (6)
July 26, 2007
Response to "Learning the Hard Way"
If there's a way to post comments to Mihai's blog, I couldn't find it - so I'll just put this link here. It's an interesting reaction to the Hummer vandalism: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/07/environmentalis_8.php
Posted by rosenblj at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)
April 20, 2007
This is not my thesis.
I took this photo today in the "California Style" exhibit at the Autry National Center.
Posted by rosenblj at 5:07 PM | Comments (0)
April 11, 2007
Internet Outrage: Activism or Entertainment?
Tycho of Penny Arcade comments today:
"People seem to think that by posting in threads and agreeing with other people they are changing the world. They are not. They are posting in threads online. The universe will not be altered by forum threads, even those which are very wry. Being outraged online is a form of entertainment, and refreshing a thread to receive a hit of consensus packs the thrill of genuine activism without requiring any sweat. I'm afraid this test may require more from the community than a sardonic jpeg."
Tycho is referring specifically to outrage over Todd Goldman's plagiarism of an art piece by Dave Kelly, but obviously his observation has much wider implications. The Internet as a tool for anyone to blow off steam in front of an audience is an incredibly double edged sword as far as real world ramifications are concerned. While many stories and opinions are shared online that the mainstream media would never pick up, the catharsis of self-expression and the high of public agreement acknowledged by Tycho serve to kill energy and momentum for real world activism. Many of the villains decried by Internet communities care only about real world costs and benefits - from this perspective eloquent and compelling rhetoric that remains confined to cyberspace has no real meaning, and the authors, having vented their outrage, go on with their daily real world lives.
Posted by rosenblj at 10:28 AM | Comments (2)
February 16, 2007
Thesis Paper
My thesis paper is now up here.
Because the conversion to HTML caused my reference citations to disappear, here is a PDF version of the paper with the original formatting.
I will be presenting this material next Tuesday at 6:30pm. More information about the presentations can be found here. Please come by and give us moral support and constructive feedback!
Posted by rosenblj at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2007
Blog Novel
My mom gave me Keith Thomson's Gus Openshaw's Whale-Killing Journal for Hannukah. On top of being a very amusing and easy read, its premise is that each chapter is a blog entry by the main character (who happens to be hunting down a whale who ate his wife and child). Many chapters read like diary entries, but many make references to an online audience (for example, asking for help putting up wanted posters) and an online enemy (at one point the protagonist stops posting their location coordinates because various law enforcement officials have been tracking them using information on the blog). Sometimes he makes erroneous entries to deceive enemies, sometimes he is incapacitated and another character has to take over the blog.
All in all, a very cute idea with very interesting possibilities - I recommend it as a fun read.
Posted by rosenblj at 4:07 PM | Comments (0)