Getting what's offline online, or, Feel my pain, children

[kestrell]

A post in which a media studies professor describes the results of an assignment in which college students had to find a print resource not available online and then scan it, run it through OCR, and upload it to the Internet.
The big epiphany: it's hard!
I don't think you need to be teaching media studies to find this an interesting assignment, as it would also demonstrate how little non-mainstream, non-bestseller, and indie literature is not online, and how that would shape what people read, and even what people are aware of as potential reading.

http://noteonmydoor.blogspot.com/2012/03/counterintuitive-digital-media_21.html

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Awesome article, and somebody else has already made my "and this is how we make stuff accessible to people with print impairments, too."

(Would you be the anon?

[kestrell]

"Anon." was not me, but I think it was a friend who read my post and said she was going to post to the prof's blog. Six degrees of Kestrell! Which reminds me, I met a visiting prof from Harvard who is conducting a study on fandom--she interviewed both Alexx and I--and, since she is going to be at Wiscon, I recommended that she introduce herself to you. I'll send more details offline. I spent the weekend without Internet service, so now I must carch up.

[jesse_the_k]

As you know, Bob, I love talking to strangers within the six degrees of Kes. Point her at me. You can even give her my email.

Speaking of which: have you ever really talked with Bill Henderson, of "Blind Advantage" fame? I just finished his polemic/memoir/book and I found it rewarding. His passionate belief in inclusion, and its benefits for the entire school, were refreshing. Even if he describes every problem as an (I kid you not) "growth area."

No. Net. Service is tragic, indeed. Stay calm and carry on.

[kestrell]

Pedantic? Could we possibly be talking about the same fandom??

Ah, I do love the little kick I get from starting my day with a bit of sarcasm to go with my decaf.

Actually, one of the questions on the prof's fandom survey was "What is something you dislike about fandom?" I started and stopped a few times, searching for the precise words, and what finally came out as a complete sentence was, "I don't know if you have noticed this, but sometimes fans can be a bit pedantic." I was actually thinking more of the people who are always condescending about being pedantic, mostly males. The thing I like most about fans is, everybody does something and is enthusiastic about what they do, so the pedanticis just the dark side of that.

I haven't read the Bill Henerson book--he's the principal from Dorchester, right? Last I looked, Bookshae did not have his book, but it did seem to be available in ebook form.

To tell the truth, I have not been reading much nonfiction this year. As a matter of fact, I have been reading almost entirely from the mystery and detective fiction genre, mostly female authors. I'll be making a post about what I've been reading sometime this week.