Precious little new content popping up here, I know, but (excuse coming) I have been working on setting up my mom’s blog… She’ll be speaking at WPPI next week, and I’ll be working the merch table in the back of the Las Vegas Ballroom at Bally’s Hotel and Casino Tuesday March 22nd.
Meanwhile, I’m thumping away at David Gauntlett’s Media, Gender, and Identity for my grad class tomorrow night, which is difficult because I think most of what he says is crap, and I’m taking lots of notes on WHY. Well, not everything is crap – there’s lots of good theory in here (Foucault, Queer Theory, etc.) – but he spends the first two chapters of the book ranting about how effects research is worthless, and then proceeds to trail off every time he starts to mention the “Media” element referenced in the title of the book. Really. Instead of actually talking about how all these neat ideas about gender and identity interact with the media (regardless of who is creating who), he just ignores any relationship.
Also, there’s the next article for my Internet Info Gathering class, which involves asking a question to newsgroups and an “Ask The Expert” sort of site linked to About.com, and then writing about how you got your answers, the interaction with the sources, etc. I plan to ignore the “gee, the guys at rec.radio.shortwave are really nice” angle and just write an article on my topic “Whither Shortwave Radio?” using the, er, sources that I’ve asked the question to as what they are: sources. Seems simple enough to me…
And of course, this Thursday is St. Patrick’s Day, when we Americans celebrate something about snakes or Ireland or the Pied Piper or…oh whatever let’s just get drunk. I’m pouring all day, as usual, over at my minimum wage job. If you’re in Santa Cruz on Thursday, you’ll be there. Heck, the first three people who actually say to the bearded bartender (me) “I read your J-School Blog” will earn themselves a free beer on my dime. Be my guest.