Who would imagine putting military robots in a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream?  Evidently a band of performers from Texas A&M University would.  According to Wired’s Autotopia:

The play was a collaboration between the university’s computer science, electrical engineering and performance studies departments. Purists may balk at reworking one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays to include robots, but director Amy Hopper jumped at the chance.

“What’s great is that they have been part of the production from the beginning, and the robots seem more and more like characters that have always been part of the story,” she said. “To see them flying, spinning and bouncing through the air just adds to the magic and mystery of the world Shakespeare created.”

Bravo, you risk-taking Shakespeare players.  You deserve a standing ovation for warming my robot-loving heart.

some of Paul Rand’s notable logos

If you are in the mood for some more information about Paul Rand or just a visit to a really well-designed website, I suggest visiting paul-rand.com. It’s delightful.

What would you think of a technology stipend or self-support for non-standard devices?

That’s what just happened for 19 year old Rodney Bradford of Harlem.  After being brought up on charges for committing two crimes, Mr. Bradford pleaded innocent, stating that he was home at the time.  His parents corroborate and Rodney’s alibi was confirmed by validating that he had updated his Facebook status when he was supposedly out breaking the law.

The words that saved his life:  ”Where’s my pancakes?”

Certainly not in the big house, Rodney.

(Thanks, Gizmodo.)

Have you heard of Courier?  No, not the font.  Courier is an interface and hardware concept from Microsoft’s R&D lab that seems to be the distillation of everything learned about desktop computing, tablet technology and mobile devices.  It’s also the first re-telling of the story laid down by traditional books that “gets it,” where “it” is the very idea of why the book (and notebook/journal) works in the first place.

If you haven’t seen the introductory videos, I recommend both:

• Leaked Courier Video Shows How We’ll Actually Use It
• Courier: First Details of Microsoft’s Secret Tablet

Well, Gizmodo today has published a complete breakdown of the elements of this stunning new device.  I’m especially interested in the idea of “tucking” items in the spine of the book, not entirely unlike putting your notes in between the pages of your research materials.

I’d use it, especially during business travel (finding panels at conferences and a good restaurant would never be easier.)

Since his start here at Washington College in 2008, Professor Sean Meehan has been exploring the future of writing and the numerous forms written expression will take. One form that has aligned well with his scholarly focus on Ralph Waldo Emerson has been WordPress blogging.  Sean has spent his time exploring the world of WordPress and, in so doing, discovered CommentPress, a plug in for the blogging platform that makes writing an even more social activity. This comment-driven, interactive model has really come together with the creation of Social Text, a CommentPress-enabled blog that Sean has been using with his English students this semester.

I recently asked Professor Meehan to explain the Social Text blog and his goals for using it with his students.

I have used [Social Text] for two classes. Primarily, in my Emerson and Whitman seminar, where I copied in several of Emerson’s essays that students were assigned. I asked them to post a comment or two to the essay, in addition to reading it in print form. The goal here was to play with an understanding of the fluidity of reading, and the blurring of reader and writer that Emerson is very interested in. So, in addition to providing a venue to generate and archive some response to readings, it allowed me to highlight the idea of dynamic reading.

I also used it for a reading assignment in my English 101 class–posting in two essays that I assigned to students. As with the use in Emerson, I also did this to demonstrate and highlight some ideas of dynamic reading and writing that, in fact, the two essays focus on. One is the essay by Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in the Age of its Technological Reproducibility” (where he talks about the ways new media, in the 1930s, is blurring the line between reader and writer); the other is “As We May Think” by Vannevar Bush, which imagines a machine for researching and writing that looks like the web.

I would like to further experiment, possibly for next term, with using this venue for having students respond to student-written essays and drafts [...]

Professor Meehan hopes to continue experimenting with writing formats in the coming semesters and would like to work with interested colleagues in expanding this exploration. Instructional Technology will, of course, be available for support (via workshops and one-on-one consultation) as this project moves forward.

Be sure to take a moment to read the Social Text blog to see the innovative way it has allowed for both students and professor to shape the reading of an otherwise flat text.

Fair Use and Online Video (American University)

The video covers many codes of best practices when working within the spaces of our Remix Culture and provide some fantastic tips for video producers and teachers. Well worth the 7 minute viewing time.

You may remember the Center for Social Media from our own Copyright Concerns web page, another resource worth visiting before you travel into the land of remix-able media.

To get to iTunes U, visit itunesu.washcoll.edu or type “itunesu” into any browser on campus.  Don’t forget, you can visit iTunes U from your iPhone or iPod Touch, too!

(Thanks, Engadget)