Monthly Archives: December 2005

CADAAD – Conference on Discourse Analysis

I am coorganizing a conference Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines (CADAAD) to be held at the University of East Anglia on June 29-30, 2006. The first call for papers goes out today. More on http://discourse.uea.ac.uk.

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Announcements, Cognition, Linguistics, Social Science | Leave a comment

My Week In Thought and Hermeneutic Suspicion

My Week In Thought This PBS essay neatly summarizes almost all the arguments I would ever make – or in some cases have made – in defense of video gaming. OK, there may be a fine line between vanity and … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Literature and narrative, Philosophy, Social Science | Leave a comment

Consequences of video games – and the cognitive aspects of data interpretation

The Video Game Revolution: “Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked” by Henry Jenkins | PBS The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence. According to federal crime statistics, the rate of juvenile violent crime in … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Education, Literature and narrative, Social Science, Society and politics, Technology and life | Leave a comment

There’s no Wikipedia entry for ‘moral responsibility’ | The Register

There’s no Wikipedia entry for ‘moral responsibility’ | The Register The first, and the most immediately absurd of these two defenses, is that since nothing at all can be trusted, er, “definitively”, then Wikipedia can’t be trusted either. This is … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Technology and life | 1 Comment

Perspective and data in historical analysis

Introduction Imagine that two millenia or so in the future, literary experts attempt to collect the glories of our literature. Most of our paper writings have crumbled into dust or used for kindling; all our digital files are long gone … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Literature and narrative, Social Science | Leave a comment

Online scholarship

“I’ve read the internet, and it’s rubbish” – a comedian on a BBC Radio 4 show. In this essay, I will diagram exactly how this happened, but also include some speculation as to how things could have turned out differently, … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Literature and narrative, Social Science | Leave a comment

Complexities of women’s rights

BBC – Radio 4 – Today Programme Listen Again David Cameron promised to tackle the lack of women MPs from his party. What can he do? Audio here An interesting discussion of three conservative MPs each arguing a different position. … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Education, Feminism, Society and politics | Leave a comment

Salient cases and social causality

The great ‘On the Media’ had an interview with ‘the devil’ – Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard. But he did bring up an interesting point regarding the actual influence of the magazine in particular and the media in general. … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Philosophy, Social Science | Leave a comment

Conceptual integration and the creation of news

On The Media– OFF-YEAR COVERAGE The President gave a major speech on Wednesday, and TV news reacted. For every story there’s a formula, whether earthquake, missing child, sex scandal or State of the Union, but this event was none of … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Society and politics | Leave a comment

How we should judge torture – Los Angeles Times

How we should judge torture – Los Angeles Times Naturally, human rights groups are appalled by the suggestion that harsh treatment is ever justified. Similarly, blogger Andrew Sullivan dismisses the ticking time bomb as a “red herring” and argues that … Continue reading

  • Share/Bookmark
Posted in Cognition, Social Science, Society and politics | Leave a comment