In the last year or two, as a researcher, academic administrator, and teacher, I have been confronted almost daily with issues connected to generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT). As it connects to language and our hopes and fears for the future, this topic has reactivated intellectual interests of mine that date back to my graduate school…
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This is a quickie today. Recently (readers might have noticed) I have been reflecting a lot on my research practice. I have been trying to find those moments when I got things right and better recognize when I did not. And I am sharing this reflective process publicly in hopes of helping others find ways…
Sorry I haven’t been as active on this blog of late; I’m going up for tenure soon, and blogging doesn’t seem to count for much. (Even though I have to wonder how blogs stack up to conference presentations in terms of scholarly impact.) Anyway, I recently composed a position paper that started as a rant…
In my recent post on discourse analysis versus close reading, I got into a discussion in the comments on the origin of the critic’s understanding and the role of subjectivity, objectivity, and so forth. In the course of that discussion (and I’d like to thank Jeremy Hunsinger for his part of the discussion that helped…
The School of Visual Arts in New York is now offering an MFA in design criticism. Though the program is oriented primarily to traditional design areas–urban planning, product design, and fashion–I think what they are doing should also be something that people in HCI should care about. Pointing out the primary role of design in…
Produce a Critique, Or, What and How to Write Continued from Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. I apologize that it has taken a week to resume writing in this series. Part of the problem was a very busy week, but another part of it was that I wasn’t quite as sure what I…
I meant to mention this in class, but I wanted to share a few thoughts on how to structure (or sequence, or arrange into a syntagm yayy!) a critical essay. A scientific paper in our field typically has the following structure (and you are welcome to use it in this class, if it makes sense…
Here is an excellent question from Jimmy about the writing process buried in some comments, and I am just reproducing my answer here (slightly edited) so people don’t overlook it. Just curious…when you write, do you make a clear distinction between pre-writing and writing? Do you say, “ok, i’m done with prewriting..let’s start writing.” I…
This is a response to Andy’s post, in which he asks some thoughtful, tough questions about writing and prewriting. I responded at length, and I didn’t want people to miss it, so I am reposting here. * * * * * * Excellent post with some thoughtful questions (the best kind!). Let me respond to…
Interaction Culture 