... and me.
No one told me, until barry mentioned it just today, that the UofTBulletin (pdf) has a nice article on blogs that mentions me. You think they'd have contacted me or something, but no, I guess enough of my life is on the blog that contacting wouldn't make any difference.
Here's the text:
Net News
Getting
Blogged Down
By Audrey Fong
IN CASE YOU HAVENíT HEARD ABOUT THE ìHOTTESTî THING IN THE EVERchanging
Internet subculture, a significant number of Internet users
are jumping on the blog bandwagon.
Although some portray blogging ó a daily web log or journal ó as
a faddish digital phenomena, others believe it is here to stay. In fact
some academics like Jason Nolan, lecturer and scholar-in-residence at
the Knowledge Media Design Institute, have been blogging for years.
Others, such as Professor Henry Farrell of political science at U of T at
Scarborough, are fairly new to blogging. ìBlogs are pretty much what
you make of them. They are clearly flexible in their interpretation,
manifestation, implementation and distribution,î Nolan said.
Nolan, who views keeping a daily web log as an empowering communications
medium, has been doing it for over two years. ìBack in
1994, the World Wide Web was going to give everyone access to their
own web page and the potential for them to have an online presence,î
he said. ìIíve seen how hard it is for the average individual to negotiate
all the aspects of maintaining a web presence, even without considering
the difficulty of conceptualizing and organizing content.î
Many academics see blogs as potentially useful teaching, learning and
research tools. They can be used to update course information and
provide journaling and/or research tools for students as well as the
ability for researchers to share information with colleagues. ìBlogs are a
valuable sounding board for ideas at their early stages,î Nolan added.
Farrell also sees many advantages of blogging for academics. ìItís a
medium that allows one to give forth on issues of interest without having
to write academic articles or go through the pain of getting op-eds
accepted by papers with wide circulation.î Although Farrell sees blogging
as a congenial way to mix scholarship and his interest in current
affairs, literature and various other topics, he hopes to incorporate a
blogging component into a course next spring.
Nolan is currently researching problems with blogs ó whoís
actually doing it and identifying the cultural biases of blog technologies.
To view Nolanís blog, click on http://jasonnolan.net/; Farrellís blog is at
http://www.henryfarrell.net/blog/.