Tech Tuesday: Goodbyes, Twitter 101

UWereGoodWhileULasted: College news aggregator UWire has officially terminated its service, which makes College Ave a very sad camper.

The site was founded in founded in 1994, and since then has reposted content from more than 850 college media oulets, according to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Student editors were paid to search these oulets for news, and post them under categories that ranged from politics, to arts, to College Ave’s favorite: Science/Tech. Did it aggregate the best, most-hard hitting journalism? No. But it gave insight into what was going on at close to 1,000 higher ed institutions across the country, which never could have been done by a single editor or publication alone. UWire hasn’t given a reason for its sudden disappearance.

Goodbye, UWire. You were good to CollegeAve.

I wonder who’s going to jump on this void in the market ..


When you should take your money and run: Australia’s Griffith University has added a mandatory course on Twitter in it’s journalism curriculum.  An entire course. (Let that settle). Personally I’ve never thought the social networking site was all that complex, but that puts me at odds with Griffith U. Professor Jacqui Ewart, who says “some students’ tweets are not as in depth as you might like.”

I have a secret for Ewart: Neither are the tweets from more than half of all twitter users. There will always be people who tweet that they had broccoli for dinner. It’s good to know how to use Twitter, but does that take 15 weeks? Abosolutely not Doubt it.

When I researched this story more, I found there was actually a point to the course: for students to tweet ongoing assesments of their own work. As the 340 first-year journalism students write and file news stories, according to an article in news.com.au, they are supposed to Tweet any struggles or problems they had with the assignment. It’s a good way to get the conversation going — but wouldn’t that be more productive in person?

(Music)-Tech Tuesday

ObjectsMusicians may be smaller larger than they appear: Music schools whose budget cuts has affected their ability to bring in performers for concerts and master classes may now be able to hold the same classes online with EchoDamp, a free software developed by the University of Southern California that promises to preserve sound quality over a high-speed internet connection. According to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, the software, developed by Brian K. Shepard, an assistant professor of composition at Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, maintains ” a sonic environment online that is musically effective.” One of the problems musicians tend to have with video conferencing or web streaming, Shepard told the Chronicle , is because there is often a delay or echo as a result of the music having to travel hundreds, or thousands, of miles. Shepard said EchoDamp expands the spectrum of sound a laptop can capture, along with digitally removing that echo.

It seems schools may also be able to use this to record the master classes, which would be great for music students who happen to miss the performance or a class. But somehow, I don’t think this will bring Yo-Yo Ma to my living room. I can dream.

No bassoonist? No problem: As students increasingly use technology to compose and record songs, professors and professionals are finding ways to help them use digital performers, too. A great article in the Christian Science Monitor, titled “Symphonies gingerly embrace digital performers,” explores how professional conductors and composers are allowing digital performers and conducting programs into the opera houses, and how professors are trying to let them into the classroom.  Interestingly enough, Shepard (from the news item above) is in this article too, explaining which subtleties students can replace with computers — and which they cannot. The article in it’s entirety is well-written and complex for me to try to simplify/recreate here, but a few revealing quotes:

“Paul Henry Smith, a composer and developer of the Fauxharmonic Orchestra, says the development of cheap disc space and affordable processors has allowed sampling libraries to grow more refined, both in the number of instruments allowed and the shades of tonal quality available. Although Mr. Smith says hearing an acoustic orchestra “is still the best thing you can do” to hear symphonic music at its highest level, he says his device is a “viable, expressive instrument.”

Mr. Shepard says digital orchestration is best used not to replace acoustic instruments but to add new sounds that composers living centuries ago had never imagined. “I love the orchestral instruments, but I also love the sounds that are created electronically. I don’t see it as an either/or situation,” he says. “I certainly hope [digital media] will expand our [aural] color palette.”

And lastly, something I don’t consider music: J-school students at Columbia University rapping about ethics. Amusing, but I’m glad this guy is pursuing journalism.

Hear Women Roar.

I’m no crazy feminist, but I’m happy to take a moment to revel in some woman glory.

Postsecondary Education Opportunity, which examines public policy on education, reported at a College Board forum this week that there are only 77 American men for every 100 American women enrolled in college. And for every 100 of those women who graduate with a bachelor’s degree, only 73 men do the same.

After my celebratory dance was over (after all, Affirmative Action was created  to help women get equal access to colleges and universities along with African-Americans and other minorities), I became suspicious.

What?

More recently than many think, men were enrolling in colleges and universities at a much higher rate than women — and in certain fields, like engineering and science, they still do.

So what happened?

Experts at the forum, according to a blogpost on The New York Times blog “The Choice,”  said there are several reasons for the gap: schools aren’t in touch with the hands-on learning style characteristic of boys; young male students, especially at-risk youth, don’t have positive male role models in or outside of school to encourage a college education, and the image of smart young men perpetuated by the media is one of socially awkward teens who go alone to the prom.

Another problem is the disappearance of jobs in industries like manufacturing, experts said, which leaves many young men without any guidance about where else to look for a career.

It’s an interesting issue — but I can only imagine the chaos that would ensue from a college announcing they were making an effort to admit more male students …

Today’s Genius: “I know … let’s cut from education!”

An exciting page in New York state’s budget saga: A proposal by Gov. David Paterson to cut aid to higher (and secondary) education.

(Again!).

Part of the governor’s plan to reduce the state’s $3 million deficit, he announced Wednesday, is to reduce spending — apparently, by cutting $686 million in education aid by the end of the fiscal year on March, 31, 2010. The reduction would be on top of other proposed cuts of $287 million to Medicaid, and $184 million to other health care programs and mental hygiene, according to the Syracuse Post Standard.

Under the proposal, about $62 million will be cut from higher education, according to the University of Buffalo’s Spectrum, which said the governor’s proposal also includes a $26 million cut from the Tuition Assistance Program, which will affect awards for students currently enrolled in the program.

TAP is run by The New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC), and helps students pay for tuition at approved colleges in New York state.

Cutting this much from the budget midway through the year has struck a sour chord with many lawmakers in Albany — especially cuts like those proposed for the TAP, which would negatively affect students currently benefiting from the program and could even prevent them from continuing their degrees.

“We’re going to try to adjust the cuts to reflect the ability [of school districts] to sustain the cuts,” Mr. Paterson said at an Albany press conference. “Most of the schools have reserves that can absorb this, and if they see fit, they should certainly use them.”

Paterson has said the move would bring Albany back to “fiscal responsibility.” But part of fiscal responsibility is setting a budget and operating within it. Setting a “reach” budget and scrambling later to cover a deficit isn’t responsible, or fiscally sound,  at all.

Sunday Roundup: Yo Money

Happy Sunday!

This is going to be a quick roundup. College Ave is on the road and heading back home to Ithaca tomorrow at 5:30 a.m. (College Ave needs some beauty sleep).

Basically, it’ll be a recap without my fun, witty, quirky interpretations. Tragic, I know. But I’ll probably come back and touch on these later in the week.

For some reason, this week has been all about money for me. Most of the stories that caught my eye revolve around it … loans, bills, costs. Enjoy (or, cry.):

Take that, big bad banks: House Passes Bill to End Bank-Based Lending, which will  “end subsidies to student-loan companies and use the projected $87-billion in savings to expand aid to students and colleges.” (The Chronicle).

I’d really like to know the answer to this one: Why College Costs Rise, Even in a Recession. Look for my favorite line, “Is this where we are supposed to stand up and cheer?”,  in response to a report from the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities that said the average tuition increase is the lowest in years, which  at 4.3 is still higher than inflation.(New York Times)

Oops Moment: The Daily Iowan, U. Iowa’s student newspaper, said it’s university was hypocritical when it accepted a donation from ExxonMobil (The Daily Iowan).

See you Tech Tuesday!

Sunday Roundup: Israeli boycott, round 2?

Followers of College Ave might remember what I like to call the most recent “Israeli boycott mess” in May 2007, when the University and College Union (UCU), a 116,000-member organization of British academics, agreed to circulate a Palestinian call for an academic boycott of Israeli institutions for “information and discussion.” The motion to discuss passed by a vote of 158 to 99.

The number of members who agreed to hear out the call to boycott worried many across the world, and the fear that a boycott would actually happen caused somewhat of an international panic.

President of the U.S.’ Columbia University, Lee Bollinger, waged a counter-UCU campaign a few months later, which, which culminated in an August 8 full page New York Times ad co-sponsored by the American Jewish Committee, signed by more than 300 U.S. college and university presidents, which as College Ave alumni Aaron Munzer wrote “essentially said, So you’re gonna boycott Israelis? Well then, boycott us too! All of us. You big jerks.” That Munzer has a way with words.

Ultimately, the boycott never passed, but last month it seems another call was made — this time, for the country as a whole, and by a professor who teaches at a prominent Israeli University.

Neve Gordon, an Israeli citizen and chairman of the department of politics and government at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, published an op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times,  “An Israeli Professor Tests the Limits of Academic Freedom,” arguing that Israeli is an “apartheid state,” and called for a boycott of his country (and his university).

Almost immediately, the president of that university responded with an angry letter that also appeared in the L.A. Times, raising the issue of academic freedom and saying that Mr. Gordon had stepped beyond that.

“At the same time, by calling on other entities, including academic institutions, to boycott Israel — and effectively, to boycott his own university — Gordon has forfeited his ability to work effectively within the academic setting, with his colleagues in Israel and around the world. After his very public, personal soul-searching in his Op-Ed article, leading to his extreme description of Israel as an “apartheid” state, how can he, in good faith, create the collaborative atmosphere necessary for true academic research and teaching?”

In a Chronicle of Higher Education article this week, Gordon said he was not surprised by the large number of people who disagree with his position, but said the president’s comments in that letter were “a form of harassment and intimidation.”

The president told The Chronicle “There is an inherent contradiction between calling for academic boycotts and fulfilling the responsibilities of leading an academic department in research collaboration, publications, and international conferences.”

She also said the essay had “branded Ben-Guiron as a radical, left-wing university and was endangering potential donations, crucial for future development.” She also said major donors are threatening to stop their support of the university unless it takes action against him.

This round of boycott talk is not only digging up the “Israeli Boycott” discussion — it’s now reaching into the academic freedom debate, too.

According to The Chronicle, almost 200 Israeli faculty members with tenure signed a petition supporting the professor’s right to express himself. It’s not clear how many people share Ms. Cami’s view — or if the university will actually do anything to remove him.

Whatever happens will likely set a precedent for academics define academic freedom in Israel, and likely in the U.S., too.

Week in Review: Swine Flu

I hate hearing about the Swine flu as much as someone who avoids medicine the next person — but I can’t ignore it anymore.

Our story starts at Duke, where this summer a number of students attending Duke University’s Summer Camps had the virus. In August, the university confirmed that 99 of it’s football players had the flu– some of them since the start of training camp Aug 5.

From there (based on coverage by the Chronicle of Higher Education):

- Sororities at The University of Alabama at Tuscaloosa and Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge

- More than 80 students at Wake Forest University

- More than 50 students at Emory University, which led to a voluntary quarantine

- And the zinger: More than 2,000 students at Washington State University
That’s just a taste. As recently as Friday, Cornell University (in College Ave’s hometown of Ithaca, NY) reported one student hospitalized with swine flu and another 140 with symptoms.

I’m not breaking out the surgical mask yet — but it will be interesting to see if we can provide a sufficient amount of H1N1 vaccines.

Labor Day Delivery: The Freaky

Like the postal service, my delivery was delayed this week because of Labor Day.

But this one-wheeled tale is worth it.

Calling Ambitious, Unemployed, Cowboy Ridin’ graduate students: Why take Labor Day off when you can ride a unicycle? According to The Daily Revielle, Louisiana State University’s student newspaper, a graduate student spent one day this past weekend riding a unicycle from Baton Rouge to New Orleans — a 117 mile journey that took about 15 hours.

The student’s top speed was 15.6 miles per hour, according to the article — which he hit at mile 100.

From the article: “Just before riding off, Huber saluted the city of Baton Rouge, reset his odometer and yelled “yeehaw.” Then, the Louisiana State University geology graduate student peddled away – his blinking red taillight fading in the distance down River Road.”

Huh? “Yeehaw” is right.

But apparently this is nothing unusual for the student, who regularly rides the unicycle to classes.

It sounds rough: “Riding around on game day, having a bunch of people chant ‘Unicycle, Unicycle!’ and falling in front of them is on the embarrassing side,” he said. “Nobody beats me up, but they laugh at me.”

Don’t believe me? Here’s a video. Next stop: Ringling Brothers.

(Double) Tech Tuesday

First let me apologize for my absence — even College Ave can run into back-end tech issues. We should be good to go from here.

To compensate (and so I don’t have to change the name of this feature to Twitter Tuesdays), here’s a mini Tech Tuesday roundup.

Take this, Twitter haters: Tweeting may actually be helping students develop prose, according to a  Chronicle of Higher Ed article about the Stanford Study of Writing, run out of Stanford University. Early results of the study, which collected academic and extracurricular writing of 189 students over the course of five years, showed “students took pains to cultivate tone and voice, and to address a particular audience.” There are critics of the theory — as the Chronicle points out — who say Twitter hasn’t made a significant impact on things like test results. I guess we’ll have to wait for the final results, but so far, I haven’t seen any sonnets pouring through my feed.

“Wait, does this thing have GPS?”: A student at Carnegie Mellon University helped police catch actors who robbed him at midnight last Friday — thanks to his iPhone. The senior cognitive science and human-computer interaction double major was approached by the suspects, who took his iPhone and debit card as well as his pin number, while walking down a street alone, according to an article in The Tartan, the university’s student newspaper. After the suspects left, the student returned to his apartment, downloaded Skype and called his friend. Together, the two contacted police and tracked the suspects’ movements through a combination of MobileMe, an Apple app that syncs and iPhone and displays it’s exact location using GPS, and GoogleMaps, watching as they spent hundreds of dollars around the city. Finally, when they stopped for dinner, police arrived and took them into custody. Guess those iPhones are better for something than just looking like a hipster important.

Three Cheers for Tech Tuesdays (and The Return of CollegeAve).

Well, I’m back.

Usually the first post of the year introduces you all to the blog. We’ve been there, and done that.

Instead, I’m going to tell you what’s new (and what parts of College Ave are coming back)

I’m also hoping to get in some Q+As. Those don’t have a day yet. In part because I haven’t lined them up … and in part because I can’t think of something clever to call them.

Here’s to a great year. And without further ado, Tech Tuesdays …

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