David Blakesley's blog

Lightboxes

David Blakesley — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 10:49:37 -0400

Two lightboxes:

http://www.istockphoto.com/my_lightbox_contents.php?id=232096

http://www.istockphoto.com/my_lightbox_contents.php?id=140617

Computing Expert Talks in Second Life

David Blakesley — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 13:31:43 -0400

Here's a story from the Chronicle that will interest you Second-Lifers:

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=1949

Ekphrasis at Purdue

David Blakesley — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 08:26:31 -0400

Here's an announcement of interest. Maybe we can spend some time in class discussing and blogging in response . . .

***

An open invitation to participate in the online “Ekphrasis” exhibit:

Purdue University Galleries invites you to visit a special “blog-style” exhibition page, featuring selected works from the current exhibition, “Ekphrasis: Writing on the Collection.” The webpage can be found at:

http://www2.itap.purdue.edu/galleries/ekphrasis/

Beware the mindreading machines!

David Blakesley — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 05:09:47 -0500

Great story today at CNN on mindreading machines:

"Mindreading scientists predict behavior" http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/03/05/mindreaders.ap/index.html

Here are some of the stunning revelations:

"The fact that we can determine what intention a person is holding in their mind pushes the level of our understanding of subjective thought to a whole new level," said Dr. Paul Wolpe, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, who was not connected to the study.

[. . .] Tanja Steinbach, a 21-year-old student in Leipzig who participated in the experiment, found it a bit spooky but wasn't overly concerned about the civil liberties implications.

"It's really weird," she said. "But since I know they're only able to do this if they have certain machines, I'm not worried that everybody else on the street can read my mind."

What's next? Hey, let's invent a sure-fire technique not only to read motive, but to actually bend someone's will. Using words alone, make people do things that they wouldn't normally do without some urging. Manufacture desire! Now that is a scary thought if it should ever come to pass.

The Visual Rhetoric of Logos

David Blakesley — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:00:47 -0500

Here's a terrific set of prototype logos for the Chameleon Federation, which is a project on digital publishing that networks a growing number of universities around the world. Sponsored by Hewlett-Packard, the group shares ideas and resources on a wide range of subjects, such as variable data printing, print on demand, document tagging, pre- and post-PDF production, imaging, and more. Purdue is a founding member. We're in the process of choosing a logo.

David Pogue on Second Life

David Blakesley — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 20:15:51 -0500

Here's a link to a CBS News video/interview with David Pogue about Second Life:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2496361n

You might also check out his funny article this week:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/02/22/an-experiment-in-virtual-livin...

Cheers,
Dave

Make a Book in an Hour Activity

David Blakesley — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:56:34 -0500

For fun and experimentation, see you can make an ebook in one hour. Follow these steps to make a PDF ebook with all the right components.

1. Get your content. To to Project Gutenberg, pick out a book, then download or copy and paste the book body (including frontmatter). It's best to create a .txt version, for easy of import at the next step.

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

2. Download the attachments to this post. There are templates for Adobe InDesign files (cover and interior) and two PDF files that show what the template looks like as a PDF file.

What Is Visual Rhetoric, and What Is Its Tradition?

David Blakesley — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:23:47 -0500

Position Statement: Alliance of Rhetoric Societies, September, 2003

Focus Issue: Do we have a "rhetorical tradition"? Are we better advised to think of traditions rather than a single tradition? If we do recognize a tradition or several traditions, how do we identify and characterize it (or them)?

Topic: “What Is Visual Rhetoric, and What Is Its Tradition?”

Introducing the Book

David Blakesley — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 06:47:26 -0500

Here's another fun YouTube video called "Introducing the Book." Nice presentation of the challenges of usability!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek

Wikibooks: Visual Rhetoric

David Blakesley — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 11:14:20 -0500

Wikibooks has an excellent set of articles on visual rhetoric, starting here:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Visual_Rhetoric

If you want to contribute, go for it!