Chronicle of Higher Education

The "Chronicle of Higher Education", as seen in my last post, offers a wealth of relevant issues dealing with everything from the Internet to innovative schools in Africa. It is a biweekly journal that costs only $45 a year, and it is worth every penny. In the article "Authoritative Online Edition", Thomas Benton, an English professor, relates how difficult it was, prior to the World Wide Web, to locate specific volumes for the collected works of Walt Whitman. He goes on to praise certain digital archives that allow him to have free access to entire collections. One collection is the "William Blake Archive", which "is among the most difficult and expensive for the beginning scholar to assemble, and it is simply impossible to duplicate in print the quality and scope of what is now available on this Web site, short of owning the original works themselves" (C2). The quality and access are what make digital archives so important today. Outside of the "serious" scholars studying the sublime poetry of Blake, now the "curious" can enjoy it too. We sometimes forget that alot of the classical or obscure works were accessible to only the privileged few, but now such works have been unleashed from there most coveted academic chains and allowed to float freely in the fresh air where an unknown and "unadorned" poet awaits to be inspired anew.

"Is Wikipedia dangerous?"

In a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education, Michael Gorman passionately relates how collaborative online services are producing "a world in which everyone is an expert in a world devoid of expertise". It is interesting to look at both sides of this debate. I have not heard many dissenting opinions concerning the academic value of these collaborative networks, but I think it is noteworthy to mention that there is obviously knowledgeable collaborative projects and just plain error ridden projects. However, it would be unjust and foolish to dump all these projects in the heap bin of ignorance. To discern what is correct and what is incorrect, requires prior knowledge, and this is where the debate should be concentrated on. To disregard even the possibility of autodidactic erudition is to disregard some of the greatest contributers to knowledge in history, who did not possess diplomas or other academic accolades. Judging the material presented should be the main focus not the degrees the person has.

A Good Book & A Glass of Wine

I have been so extremely busy with all the readings, responses and web design projects that I forget to share some of my thoughts via this blog. Instead of ranting about the sometimes overwhelming workload in each class, I thought it would be more, what should I say, mentally therapeutic to briefly discuss a future book project that ran through my mind just the other day. The premise of the book is that every good book directly corresponds to a specific glass of wine. When partaking in both (the book & the wine) slowly and consciously, the mind and the body are transported to a higher realm of relaxation. The structure of the book would simply consist of certain authors (favorites of mine) and wines that go perfect with their stories. For example, a section on poetry would consist of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud and the English poet Percy Shelley. The majority of Rimbaud's poetry, especially the famed “Drunken Boat” would be complemented perfectly with a heavy, deep and delicious red wine such as Chateauneuf du Pape. Rimbaud’s poetry is lyrical, sensory and highly sentimental and the recommended wine would place you in the perfect mood to really enjoy his poems. Shelley, with his Neo-Platonist themes and its basking in the Universal, would go well with a Chablis, a white wine with a wonderful floral and crisp taste. This wine does not make the head spin but makes it float like Shelley’s beautiful poem “The Cloud”. The great tragic romance, The Sorrows of Young Werther, by Goethe should be enjoyed with a fine glass of Spanish Rose Rioja, a strong and fresh rose wine with hints of melancholic sweetness. You get the picture. If one does not like “good” literature and think wine drinking is an aristocratic endeavor, grab a beer or boxed wine and your favorite Danielle Steel novel. It would definitely be a fun book to write but until I find the time to start it, it will remain in the “work in progress” section in my mind.

My Web Page

After many setbacks and time consuming angst, I finally got my Web page published. You can click on the blue tab (index.html) or visit my site at http://www.pitt.edu/~keh70/

index.html

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Grazr widget

My widget is on the right side of the page but if you want to view it using my url here it is:
http://grazr.com/read/kayembe/export.opml

Zoomclouds

After experiencing many setbacks with Zoomclouds I finally went on Feedblendr (which was extremely easy) and put the blend on Zoomclouds. Without Feedblendr there really was no way to integrate my tags from Connotea, Delicious, and my Blog into one cloud. I did separate clouds for all three but could not locate a function that allows a combination cloud from different sites. Anyway, I have my integrated cloud posted on the right with 30 tags but here is my url for 50 tags: http://zoomclouds.egrupos.net/kayembe4/viewCloud/0

Henry Miller

Koha -- Virtual Shelves