web and technology

The Blog as Emerging, Evolving Genre

The use of a constructed blogging identity has recently become high fashion in the computer world. With computers between the faces of those who converse online, we can create a veil to conceal the truth, a mask to construct a new truth, or a magnifying glass to focus in on whatever we please. In this paper, I will discuss the nature, use-value, and appeal of a constructed blogging identity. With references to two specific blogs, I will talk about how bloggers perceive their personal blogging identity, how it constrains them, and what it tells us about the nature of internet communication.

"A Document inMadness, Thoughts and Rembrance Fitted."

-Shakspeare: HamletIV, v, 155

Recently I have become interested in another topic that Iknow little to nothing about. Over the past few weeks, my Emerging Genres classhas been studying a modern phenomenon: the blog. The more I read about blogs,the more I felt like I had seen something like them before. It wasn't longafter that I realized how closely the modern blog, especially when made tocreate a community, resembles the Bryn Mawr College Backsmoker Diaries.

Aspirations, successes, challenges (1994-2005), and update

Serendip principles and principals participated in a national conference, SENCER, in Washington D.C this month.  Our presentation, Science Education as Interactive Conversation, is available for download, and we have some links to relevant materials.

Hands-on Activities for Teaching Biology to High School or Middle School Students has been very popular with science teachers, and is one of Serendip's favorite exhibits. Even if you're not in high school anymore, take a look at Dragon Genetics, just for fun.

Have you ever stood at the top of a very tall object and shuddered at the thought of looking down? Have you ever noticed that when you give a dog a treat, it tends to repeat the same action for which you praised it? Both of these situations use conditioning, a crux of the behavioral psychology. Two branches of Behaviorism, Classical and Radical Behavioral psychology, use conditioning to explain the actions of humans and animals without ever having to delve into the mind.