The long-running and erratically updated blog of Kathleen Fitzpatrick. 2025-05-31T11:22:25Z https://kfitz.info/ Kathleen Fitzpatrick kfitz@kfitz.info 2025-05-31T11:22:25Z https://kfitz.info/all-this/ There's a moment in the 2001 Michael Bay classic, Pearl Harbor (which Roger Ebert once described as "a two-hour movie squeezed into three hours"), in which Kate... 2025-05-11T12:39:42Z https://kfitz.info/networking/ This post is going to put my full nerdiness and my full cluelessness simultaneously on display, but I am building a home network that is going to include a server hosting much of my online presence, and I am running into some issues that are... 2025-04-20T14:56:45Z https://kfitz.info/gitea/ This site is running in 11ty and is built locally, after which the live site (which gets built into the _site folder) is pushed to my Reclaim Hosting account, where it's served up as kfitz.info. As an intermediate... 2025-04-17T13:23:01Z https://kfitz.info/neh-path-forward/ Crossposted from the Knowledge Commons team blog.
Over the last several weeks, we've seen colleagues of ours across the country posting about the direct impacts they're experiencing of the current attacks on the National Endowment... 2025-03-18T13:22:43Z https://kfitz.info/writing-again/ It happened this weekend.
In the aftermath of turning in the final manuscript for Leading Generously, I promised... 2025-02-18T13:39:29Z https://kfitz.info/leading-generously-audiobook/ I am delighted this morning to share the news that Leading Generously is now available as an 2025-02-17T21:45:22Z https://kfitz.info/equality-justice/ More from Bérubé and Ruth:

A robust theory of academic freedom must be grounded in the common good. The common good is an intelligible concept only if what Charles Mills calls non-ideal (that is, not colorblind and abstract but... 2025-02-17T13:12:13Z https://kfitz.info/independence-neutrality/ Back in December, my university's top administrators announced an official position of "thoughtful restraint," attempting to stake out a commitment to institutional neutrality on contentious political issues by not making statements or... 2025-01-31T20:00:18Z https://kfitz.info/holding-space/ Here I was, super happy with my return to blogging in 2024. I wasn't crazy prolific or anything, but I did manage to post something every month except for April. What happened in April? 2024-12-22T15:54:17Z https://kfitz.info/finite/ You have to accept that there will always be too much to do; that you can’t avoid tough choices or make the world run at your preferred speed; that no experience, least of all close relationships with other human beings, can ever be... 2024-12-21T15:00:16Z https://kfitz.info/rest/ I'm back to my all-too-slow reading of Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks, and am finding myself a bit haunted this morning by this passage:

Rest is permissible, but only for the purposes of recuperation for work,... 2024-12-20T19:04:19Z https://kfitz.info/preservation-care/ I'm finally getting a chance to do some sustained reading, now that my winter break has begun, and so managed at last to dive into Maxwell Neely-Cohen's "Century-Scale... 2024-12-14T22:27:34Z https://kfitz.info/on-distraction/ For a host of reasons, I had to put Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals down for a couple of weeks; there was the post-Thanksgiving crush at work, and then travel for a family event, and then travel for a... 2024-11-30T21:44:40Z https://kfitz.info/admitting-defeat/ From Oliver Burkeman's Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, which I am reading for reasons:

Productivity is a trap. Becoming more efficient just makes you more rushed, and trying to clear the decks simply... 2024-11-29T19:55:21Z https://kfitz.info/posse-pipedream/ Some months back, I set up the ability to push new blog posts (or at least summaries thereof) to my hcommons.social account, using a service called Mastofeed. Now... 2024-11-29T16:35:27Z https://kfitz.info/rebuilding/ At some point a month or so ago (probably more "or so" given my recent what is time even challenges), I upgraded the innards of this site from Eleventy 2.0 to Eleventy 3.0. This turned out to require a... 2024-10-01T12:01:31Z https://kfitz.info/passivity/ I have a book coming out this month (preorder here) exploring the tools through which people caught in the middle of bureaucratic systems can work together to transform... 2024-09-08T22:21:58Z https://kfitz.info/time-is-weird/ There's this moment that happened a lot of years ago: I was walking through the living room of the apartment I was living in and the television was on playing god knows what, and something made me think, you know, the next time I'm 25 --,... 2024-08-03T21:45:58Z https://kfitz.info/like-riding-a-bike/ The cliché, it turns out, is mostly true. But only mostly.
Since I moved to East Lansing -- seriously, for seven years now -- I have had the itch to get a bicycle. Nothing fancy, nothing fast, just a commuter bike that I can tool... 2024-07-20T16:08:20Z https://kfitz.info/new-jobs/ I've announced a few places (though apparently not here) that I started a new job a little while back. 2024-07-19T20:52:40Z https://kfitz.info/links/ A thing that I have only just realized that I loathe about newsletters: when links in the newsletters have self-referential preview URLs. So when I hover over all the many clever links in “Your Newsletter,” they show up as taking me to... 2024-07-01T20:18:21Z https://kfitz.info/expedient/ I mentioned yesterday that I'm doing a bunch of fun reading on this mini-vacation, but failed to note (unless you happen to follow my Bookwyrm self) that a key chunk... 2024-06-30T14:04:03Z https://kfitz.info/reading/ I am taking a very brief vacation, not far from home, and not doing much. But reading. For fun. I finished a novel yesterday and read a quick novella this morning, and am now a chapter into another novel. And already I’m feeling re-energized in... 2024-06-24T14:59:01Z https://kfitz.info/apophenia/ We bought a new car not too long ago, and got a new license plate to go with it. Our state's standard license plates take on a three letter plus four number format. The plate we got has a number structured like GXX 5300. We thought, hey cool,... 2024-05-28T17:40:33Z https://kfitz.info/polarization/ I’m serving on a committee appointed by the provost to work on campus-wide discussions of freedom of speech and academic freedom. For this committee — as well as for my own ability to address some questions that I fully expect to be front and... 2024-05-27T12:37:01Z https://kfitz.info/rebranding-the-commons/ Last week, the Commons team made the transition to our new brand identity: Knowledge Commons. On first glance, this is a pretty cosmetic change: we have a new logo and new color palette (both gorgeous, if you ask... 2024-05-08T00:41:28Z https://kfitz.info/things-that-happened/ I was doing super well with this whole blog revival thing, right up until I wasn't. March and April were awful, not least in the ways they undid all my best intentions about thinking thoughts worth writing down. So here's a quick recap of a few... 2024-03-09T14:41:28Z https://kfitz.info/limit-case/ I argued back in Planned Obsolescence that the limit case of scholars' belief in collaboration was the co-authored dissertation; if we could not imagine such a thing -- how it would work, how it would be assessed, how it would be valued... 2024-03-01T20:29:12Z https://kfitz.info/recent-reading/ A couple of days ago, the board of trustees of my institution released the results of an independent investigation into some -- let's say... 2024-02-20T17:16:43Z https://kfitz.info/more-from-ursula-franklin/ Yesterday's post prompted @fishpatrol@weirder.earth to suggest starting the "More from Ursula Franklin" newsletter. I would hate to... 2024-02-19T23:27:35Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-a-test/ This is a test of the kfitz.info Mastodon feed. This is only a test. 2024-02-18T18:55:06Z https://kfitz.info/captive-supporters/ More from Ursula Franklin:

The early phase of technology often occurs in a take-it-or-leave-it atmosphere. Users are involved and have a feeling of control that gives them the impression that they are entirely... 2024-02-18T14:23:21Z https://kfitz.info/syndication/ This is a test of a GitHub Actions-based syndication mechanism that -- if I've done this correctly, which is a serious question -- should look at this site's JSON feed once an hour to see if there are new posts, and if so, repost them to my... 2024-02-17T20:46:28Z https://kfitz.info/ursula-franklin/ Public planning for the needs of private industry and for the expansion of technology has gone well beyond the provision of physical infrastructures. There are tax and grant structures, and there is the impact of the needs of... 2024-02-16T19:36:40Z https://kfitz.info/the-cover/ The cover somehow makes it real. Coming in October, but now available for preorder: Leading Generously: Tools... 2024-01-28T14:38:25Z https://kfitz.info/weekend-desk/ My weekend desk. I love this spot on a chilly Sunday morning with a strong cup of coffee and a fun class to prep or a good book to read. It's nice to back away from the ergonomic desk chair and... 2024-01-17T22:21:27Z https://kfitz.info/care/ We had an interesting conversation today in our team meeting about "self-care," what it ought to open up (the ability to ensure one's own well-being) and how it often winds up being used. I said at one point that "self-care"... 2024-01-10T14:31:08Z https://kfitz.info/quitting-capitalism/ Joan Westenberg's "How to Quit Capitalism" begins with an acknowledgement that "capitalism" as we live within and struggle against it today is less an... 2024-01-06T20:35:13Z https://kfitz.info/anxiety-and-leadership/ I've just finished reading Jeffrey Miller's The Anxious Organization (spoiler alert: all organizations are anxious, because they have people in them). Among his arguments,... 2024-01-02T20:18:20Z https://kfitz.info/generosity-and-pragmatism/ I'm haunted by a point that Chachra makes near the end of How Infrastructure Works. "For wealthy, developed countries that benefited from extractive or settler colonialism," she notes, "dedicating resources to a global... 2023-12-31T23:23:00Z https://kfitz.info/cui-bono/ Chachra notes that renewables may have high initial costs to implement, but that they “don’t have incremental costs, where every joule of output has to be paid for, because the raw energy input — sunlight, wind, running water, the heat of the... 2023-12-31T22:59:00Z https://kfitz.info/corroding-our-solidarity/ Chachra points to the uses of the "carbon footprint" as an advertising mechanism that functions not only to make individuals hold themselves -- rather than corporations that continue to profit from fossil fuels -- responsible for climate... 2023-12-31T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/infrastructure-and-governance/ More on How Infrastructure Works: Chachra makes the connection between the social purposes and effects of infrastructures and the importance of ensuring appropriate systems for the governance clear: infrastructure is "a collective... 2023-12-29T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/value-values/ In How Infrastructure Works, Deb Chachra notes the confusion potential in uses of the term “public good,” and works to distinguish its economic definition (goods that are non-rivalrous and non-excludable) from what she terms its... 2023-12-29T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/i-have-concerns/ I woke up at 4:00am today for no immediately apparent reason. My brain decided that this provided an excellent opportunity for a full recounting of every mistake I made in 1998-99, ordered by level of embarrassing failure to consider the feelings... 2023-12-26T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/smart-notes/ I'm re-reading Sönke Ahrens's How to Take Smart Notes in preparation for my spring grad seminar, a second go at "Peculiar Genres of Academic Writing." It hardly needs to be said that Ahrens is super opinionated in his... 2023-11-30T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/mary-cappello-lecture/ Midway between a sermon and a bedtime story, the lecture is knowledge's dramatic form. (13) 2023-10-09T17:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/open-matters/ When I set out to write my last post I had a different thought in mind than where I ended up. I'm still thinking about questions of ownership, and in particular want to return to the leap John Maxwell pointed out... 2023-10-02T20:41:00Z https://kfitz.info/ownership-matters/ My colleagues at Mesh Research and I recently gathered for a week-long retreat -- or rather, since we're all working remotely, and some quite remotely, for an on-site -- in order to think through our... 2023-08-19T17:45:05Z https://kfitz.info/time-loss/ The first half of this summer was an embarrassingly blissful stretch for me: I finished the book manuscript that I'd been bashing my head up against and got it submitted to the press, and I got to spend a bunch of time doing some creative... 2023-07-11T18:38:19Z https://kfitz.info/git/ One of the things that this new #11ty site has done for me is get me way more comfortable with git, and with the command line. Of course, what I'm actually doing at the command line is not a whole heck of a lot -- mostly a lot of... 2023-07-03T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/eleventy/ At some point in the last few months, I decided I wanted to learn 11ty. I'd had some luck migrating kfitz.info out of WordPress and into a GitHub-based Jekyll site, but there... 2023-06-28T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/twelve-years-later/ I've spent the last few days working through twenty-one years of posts here in preparation for the migration that, if you're reading this, I must have completed. And in so doing I discovered that apparently I... 2023-06-22T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/recalibrating-again/ I've committed myself to a more regular blogging practice, but am early enough in that commitment that it hasn't become natural yet. There's a thing that happens when blogging becomes fully integrated into my ways of working that I've 2023-06-10T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/homecoming/ After Reclaim Open, I popped up to New York for HASTAC 2023, being held at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. It's been a homecoming of sorts for me, both because of my long-standing relationship with HASTAC and because I... 2023-06-09T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/practicing/ Reclaim Open was a total delight. So many things about this conference were exactly what I needed: a first day unconference, that encouraged everyone to get talking to one another right away and to get a ton... 2023-05-29T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/summer-writing/ My spring semester ended more or less three weeks ago, in a rush of meetings and grading and packing and etc. We hit the road a few days later, driving ourselves and a carload of stuff to Montreal, where we're spending the summer. I took a week... 2023-03-09T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/intervention/ It’s spring break here at MSU, and never in the history of spring break was a spring break more needed.[1] I’ve spent the week digging into book revisions that I’d been dragging my... 2023-02-26T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/plastics/ Someone on Mastodon linked to this Cory Doctorow piece on Exxon's 50-year lie about the recyclability of plastics, saying that 2023-02-22T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/our-leadership-practice/ Wrapping up Madeleine Shaw's The Greater Good today, a fantastic book that provides a wealth of practical advice for anyone who wants to create a project, an organization, or a company that has as its goal transforming the world. Near the... 2023-02-20T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/bananas/ We had super overripe bananas, and I had seen a recipe, and so I got it in my head to make a banana cake. I am not a baker, so this is a rare event.
R. came into the kitchen while I was whisking the dry ingredients together, said nothing,... 2023-02-16T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/testing/ It's slowly dawned on me that one of the things I do when I'm overwhelmed or stressed or unhappy is tinker with my computer. I'll suddenly find myself with the urge to install new software or move to a new system for managing my to-dos, or I'll... 2023-02-14T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/trauma-and-resilience/ I joined the faculty of the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University in July 2017. In the five and a half years since we have experienced the gradual uncovering of one of the worst sexual abuse scandals in national history. We've... 2023-02-12T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/annual-review/ As I sat down to write my annual review narrative, on a Friday afternoon in February, I was struck by the realization -- not for the first time in my career -- that my work has taken a very strange turn. I sat down expecting to have to write... 2023-02-04T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/keep-in-touch/ Almost thirteen (13) years ago, I was president of the Phi Beta Kappa chapter at Pomona College. As such, I was supposed to give an address to our new initiates during graduation weekend, but a couple of weeks before the event, I discovered that I... 2023-01-21T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/presenting/ For several years now, I've used reveal.js to build slide decks for my presentations. The primary appeal has been the ability to write new talks in Markdown and push them online with a minimum of... 2023-01-18T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/static/ Over the holiday break, I did a lot of work to migrate my 20-year-old blog out of WordPress and into the Jekyll/GitHub configuration you see here. It was both a fun and an instructive process, but it surfaced several ongoing questions for... 2023-01-09T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/mla-23/ I'm a little late in getting this posted, but I delivered the paper below at MLA 2023 as part of a session entitled "How the Liberal Arts Works," organized by Julia Mickenberg. It draws on the work I've been doing toward (what I... 2022-12-30T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/comments/ I've had two somewhat divergent goals in trying to get a functional Jekyll-based site up and running. The first is that I'm hoping to include a bit of tinkering with static site generators in this spring's iteration of DH 865, and while I'm not... 2022-12-28T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/hello-world/ I spent much of yesterday building out a new Jekyll website using the Minimal Mistakes theme. Now I'm testing out a method for 2022-12-23T14:55:53Z https://kfitz.info/hotel-elsevier/ You’ve already heard that Elsevier is evil. That they know this much about you — and that they are selling this data not just to our institutions but to god-knows-who-else — is cause for real, material protest. They may not have a crass loud... 2022-12-17T16:03:59Z https://kfitz.info/birdsite1/ Spending today tinkering with a combination of ideas that have surfaced in my Mastodon feed over the last several days:

Shawn Graham’s use of MkDocs with... 2022-12-16T19:35:48Z https://kfitz.info/tasks-matter/ At some point in the last couple of weeks, a link passed through my hcommons.social feed pointing me to Ben Newton’s post... 2022-12-08T13:47:05Z https://kfitz.info/revising-lg/ This morning, I am officially kicking off the process of revising Leading Generously for final submission. As the discussions there will show, I’ve got a lot of work ahead. My hope is... 2022-12-03T18:32:09Z https://kfitz.info/block-editor-question/ WP block editor gurus: Is there a way to use styles to create links that use different colors for the link text and the link decoration (i.e., the underline)? I know how to do it using CSS (I think), but styles within the block editor seems to... 2022-12-02T15:29:05Z https://kfitz.info/garcia-pena/ Grounded in a model of individual success that rewards white men and the knowledge they have created for centuries, academia promotes competitiveness, exceptionalism, and ownership of history and knowledge-making. We are primed to... 2022-11-06T16:37:10Z https://kfitz.info/activitypub/ Some time back, I got sooooooper-interested in the work of IndieWeb and what it might do for connecting blog spaces and social media spaces. Things have quieted down since then, though... 2022-10-18T13:29:19Z https://kfitz.info/timeline-of-events/ For anyone who might be looking for a bit more information on the situation at MSU, faculty senator Jack Lipton has put together an excellent video detailing the timeline of... 2022-10-16T17:00:17Z https://kfitz.info/a-tale-of-two-transitions/ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
That’s perhaps an opening so predictable as to wander blithely into the terrain of the cliché, but it captures all too well the weirdness of the last month for someone who’s trying to... 2022-09-26T15:54:23Z https://kfitz.info/krenak/ My main reason for postponing the end of the world is so we’ve always got time for one more story. If we can make time for that, then we’ll be forever putting off the world’s demise.
Ailton Krenak, Ideas to Postpone... 2022-04-25T16:16:05Z https://kfitz.info/venticinque-anni-fa/ Edited to add: Uh, whoops. Try Trentacinque Anni Fa. I am OLD.
I’m in Florence for a meeting this week. (I know, I feel bad for me too.) I flew out of Detroit yesterday morning, had a four-hour layover at JFK, and landed in Rome... 2022-04-01T15:00:12Z https://kfitz.info/revisiting-neoliberal-tools/ I had the pleasure this morning of being part of an excellent townhall on digital American Studies held by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Amerikastudien. My assignment was to... 2022-03-04T19:39:09Z https://kfitz.info/what-is-this-meeting-for/ I’ve had two ridiculously awesome work events in the last two days, and want to share them with you, because in some ways the excitement I have about them is a bit unexpected, a bit counter-intuitive. And it’s got me rethinking my approach to... 2022-01-05T19:41:44Z https://kfitz.info/eng818/ Over the last several months, I’ve regularly bugged folks on the Twitters for suggestions for a new class I’ve been putting together for this semester, called “Peculiar Genres of Academic Writing.” 2022-01-03T15:30:15Z https://kfitz.info/plans/ For the last several years, I’ve had a daily planning routine. While I’d begun that routine in the Moleskine that was always nearby, I moved it onto my computer about a year ago, taking advantage of Obsidian‘s... 2021-07-23T14:34:25Z https://kfitz.info/shapland/ I’m in the early pages of Jenn Shapland’s gorgeous My Autobiography of Carson McCullers, which brings the methods and subjects of literary criticism and biography and memoir together in lyrical and deeply personal ways. At one point,... 2021-07-11T20:24:35Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-swim/ Are there skills you developed as an adult that you enjoy enough that you wish you’d picked them up when you were younger?
Mine, which has come on with a vengeance in the last month, is swimming. Lap after lap after lap.
The swimming... 2021-06-18T13:03:27Z https://kfitz.info/higher-education-as-a-social-good/ A few days ago, I had the honor of keynoting the annual meeting of the APLU’s Commission on Economic and Community Engagement. The text of my... 2021-06-17T16:15:15Z https://kfitz.info/new-books-network/ I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to talk about Generous Thinking with Kai Wortman for the New Books Network. 2021-06-11T13:36:00Z https://kfitz.info/opening-up-peer-review/ Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak as part of a workshop held in conjunction with the annual meeting of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS). A NECS... 2021-06-10T13:53:18Z https://kfitz.info/focus-2/ I’ve been wearing glasses with progressive lenses for a few years now, since it became clear that no form of contact lens-based correction was going to work anymore. (I tried multifocal lenses, and found that the sweet spot for my focus was about... 2021-02-09T16:03:03Z https://kfitz.info/lg-call-for-respondents/ Friends, in support of the revision process for Leading Generously, as well as my broader research into the conditions for creating transformative change within institutions of higher education, I am inviting participation from scholars,... 2021-01-05T15:01:46Z https://kfitz.info/lg11-onward/ I hope that your holidays were restorative and that your 2021 is beginning as well as it can. In addition to spending this morning getting myself rebooted for the upcoming semester, I’m posting the final section of the draft of Leading... 2020-12-29T14:51:51Z https://kfitz.info/lg10-solidarity/ I’m taking a bit of a break from my official job-related duties this week, which is allowing me to think a bit about the path forward for Leading Generously. As this process has unfolded, I’ve come across several keywords that I want to add to... 2020-12-22T15:03:53Z https://kfitz.info/lg9-stories/ Week 9 of Leading Generously; just a couple more to go. I hope you’ll send me any stories you’re willing to share.
Previously:

LG1: Introduction 2020-12-15T15:03:08Z https://kfitz.info/lg8-support/ Part 8 of Leading Generously, already! Thanks to all of you who have liked and retweeted and commented. There are just a few more chapters ahead, and I’m starting to get a sense of my path forward, but I’m really looking forward any thoughts... 2020-12-08T15:09:09Z https://kfitz.info/lg7-trust/ This chapter of Leading Generously contains my first real TK TK TK — I’m not happy with how this section wraps up, in part because I’m not convinced the section goes at all far enough. I’m developing a plan for conducting interviews with folks... 2020-12-01T14:58:21Z https://kfitz.info/lg6-values/ Part 6 in this early draft of Leading Generously. This puts us a little over halfway through, so it seems a good moment to reiterate: what I most need in order to make this project into the thing it should become is examples. Stories of... 2020-11-24T14:48:26Z https://kfitz.info/lg5-vulnerability/ Here’s part 5. And boy, do I feel this one. Looking forward to any thoughts or stories you’re willing to share. Please feel free to leave them in the comments, or to write me at kfitz at 2020-11-17T15:05:04Z https://kfitz.info/lg4-listening/ This is the fourth in a series of eleven or so posts, opening up my in-progress project, Leading Generously. I’m posting this material at this highly drafty stage in large part because I recognize the inescapably partial nature of my... 2020-11-10T14:59:00Z https://kfitz.info/lg3-people/ Well, that was a week. Days of anxiously reloading every news outlet I could, followed by some precious hours of celebration and relief. And now… the fight continues.
This is part three in a roughly eleven-part... 2020-11-03T15:04:15Z https://kfitz.info/lg2-you/ This is the second draft chapter of eleven-ish in Leading Generously. See the overview and the first chapter for the story thus far.
And given the... 2020-10-27T14:11:33Z https://kfitz.info/lg1-introduction/ This is the first chapter of what promises to be eleven in an in-development project, tentatively entitled Leading Generously. For more on why I’m posting this, and the kinds of input I’m hoping for, see Leading... 2020-10-26T14:02:41Z https://kfitz.info/leading-generously/ This post is a heads-up of sorts; I’ve got a project I’ve been working on for a bit now, and I’m hoping y’all can help with it.
The project is a follow-up to Generous... 2020-10-18T18:43:38Z https://kfitz.info/retreat/ Y’all. I found myself really needing to make some progress on a writing project. In order to do so, I needed to clear both my head and my schedule.
Like a ton of you, I never took any real down time during the summer. I kept saying I was... 2020-06-27T20:53:12Z https://kfitz.info/urgency/ From today’s campus coronavirus update: “News this week of a spike in positive COVID-19 cases in the East Lansing area highlight the importance and urgency of our collective work to prepare for reopening campus this fall.”
That news... 2020-06-26T14:27:47Z https://kfitz.info/your-institution-does-not-deserve-to-survive/ That is: unless you are committed to the survival of the people who make up and serve that institution first, foremost, and above all.
* * *
There’s an awful lot of “shared sacrifice” and “for the good of the... 2020-04-26T14:21:35Z https://kfitz.info/generosity-in-hard-times/ Over the course of the last couple of years, I’ve spoken on several college and university campuses where faculty, staff, students, and administrators have been thinking about how to create and support a greater sense of connection between their... 2020-03-28T14:26:41Z https://kfitz.info/isolation-mission-connection/ The last month has been an utter blur. We traveled for spring break, which is on the early end of things here; we left Michigan in late February for a bit over a week in a quiet resort hotel in Cancun. It was our usual writing vacation: we stayed... 2020-01-16T15:36:42Z https://kfitz.info/infrastructure-and-capacity-building/ Crossposted from Platypus.
I was delighted this week to be notified that the Humanities Commons team... 2020-01-11T22:02:33Z https://kfitz.info/becoming-human/ This brief presentation was part of a panel at MLA 2020 in Seattle entitled “Being Human, Seeming Human.” The panel brought together researchers from Microsoft with a couple of DH folks (me and Mark Sample) to talk about the history of research... 2019-12-01T20:13:56Z https://kfitz.info/generosity-humility-vulnerability/ A few conversations in recent days, as well as a bunch of the reading I did during my holiday writing retreat, have led me back to thinking about generosity. One would think I’d have exhausted myself on that concept, but not even close. In the... 2019-11-30T23:49:19Z https://kfitz.info/30-november-2019-1846/ Those of us who labor in academia have a responsibility and a role to play in the transformation of society, but we are not, and should never aspire to be, Comtian ‘sociological priests,’ giving the people formulas of what the new... 2019-11-26T12:03:45Z https://kfitz.info/loss-shame-validation-and-work/ This is likely to be a bit of a hike. It’s one of those posts in which some precipitating event has sent me off on a bit of an introspective tail-spin, and sorting out what’s going on in my head and my heart requires putting fingers to keyboard... 2019-11-21T14:36:29Z https://kfitz.info/21-november-2019-0936/ Words come in and out of common usage, sure, but every once in a while I’m caught up short by repeatedly hearing a word that feels otherwise rare. Lately: “anodyne.” It’s suddenly everywhere, and I’m curious why. 2019-10-07T13:20:34Z https://kfitz.info/self-assessment/ A writer whose work I admire enormously tweeted the other day about the new book they’re working on and the joy they’re taking in it. Reading this tweet left me simultaneously delighted and saddened — delighted because there will soon be more... 2019-09-23T19:33:14Z https://kfitz.info/23-september-2019-1533/ I am enormously excited to be keynoting Humanities 20/20 at Vanderbilt this Friday, supporting the faculty’s development of a vision for the future of the... 2019-09-17T12:20:22Z https://kfitz.info/17-september-2019-0820/ I’ve been thinking this morning about the difference between Planned Obsolescence and Generous Thinking, and why the latter, and the response to it, means so much to me right now. When I was writing Planned Obsolescence,... 2019-09-01T19:08:05Z https://kfitz.info/1-september-2019-1508/ I turned 52 last week, and am not exactly sure how that happened. But it’s time for a new avatar that looks a bit more like the me I’m becoming than the me I used to be. 2019-08-28T19:26:00Z https://kfitz.info/28-august-2019-1526/ I don’t even know what to say about where this summer went. Things got done, but not the things I’d planned.
Instead I’ll point to the 2019-08-04T22:39:00Z https://kfitz.info/4-august-2019-1839/ Before what’s below, I need to say something about the horror unfolding around us in El Paso and Dayton, and too too many other cities of late, though I honestly don’t much know what to say, except that it’s a national shame of the highest order... 2019-06-15T20:46:16Z https://kfitz.info/15-june-2019-1646/ “The notion that intelligence is a personal endowment or personal attainment is the great conceit of the intellectual class, as that of the commercial class is that wealth is something which they personally have wrought and... 2019-06-10T10:54:17Z https://kfitz.info/we-have-never-been-social/ Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with Bryan Alexander on his Future Trends Forum. We were primarily focused on 2019-05-13T11:23:05Z https://kfitz.info/summer-2019/ I’m titling this post “Summer 2019” in part as a way of reminding myself, as firmly as possible, that the summer has begun, in order to get myself focused on a new set of priorities as quickly as possible.
The transition from spring into... 2019-04-30T07:12:00Z https://kfitz.info/30-april-2019-0312/ Not the worst view I’ve ever had from a hotel room window. 2019-04-25T23:28:18Z https://kfitz.info/25-april-2019-1928/ Here’s how I know it’s almost summer: My dreams for the last nine months have been nothing but stress dreams. I’m at a conference and can’t find my way back to the third floor because the elevators on this side of the hotel only go to floors 53... 2019-04-05T20:17:05Z https://kfitz.info/5-april-2019-1617/ Did I seriously spend a full two seconds wondering what kind of vegetable soup comes in a box and what it was doing in my hotel bathroom? (Yes, yes I did.) 2019-03-25T14:04:12Z https://kfitz.info/25-march-2019-1004/ Something weird is happening to this tree. 2019-03-01T14:47:30Z https://kfitz.info/1-march-2019-0947/ I’m enormously grateful to @dancohen for this most generous review of #GenerousThinking. 2019-02-28T18:09:46Z https://kfitz.info/scholars-its-time-to-take-control-of-your-online-communities/ Crossposted from the Humanities Commons Team blog.
A couple of years ago, I got a bit fed up with the ways that... 2019-02-26T18:29:18Z https://kfitz.info/26-february-2019-1329/ I’m grateful to have gotten to have such a good conversation with Scott Carlson of the Chronicle of Higher... 2019-02-20T12:55:47Z https://kfitz.info/20-february-2019-0755/ Scott Jaschik asked me some great questions about Generous Thinking, and I was happy to answer. 2019-02-18T14:00:54Z https://kfitz.info/listening-as-generous-thinking/ (Crossposted from the Johns Hopkins University Press blog.)
Generous Thinking began for me with the nagging sense that... 2019-02-17T21:42:33Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-gt-comments-reopened/ The conclusion to the print edition of Generous Thinking directs readers to the manuscript’s open review site to... 2019-02-17T15:06:31Z https://kfitz.info/17-february-2019-1006/ My dean Chris Long recently invited me to talk about Generous Thinking with him on his podcast, the 2019-02-13T22:50:52Z https://kfitz.info/behind-the-will/ I am honored that my colleagues in the College of Arts & Letters asked me to talk a bit about digital humanities and the role that it might play in reorienting the university toward the public good. We had a rather long conversation, more of... 2019-02-11T16:35:34Z https://kfitz.info/11-february-2019-1135/ It’s launch week for Generous Thinking! The book’s official ship date is tomorrow, and I’ve got several fun things in the pipeline to accompany it.
Everything except a book party. I forgot to... 2019-02-04T20:44:41Z https://kfitz.info/4-february-2019-1544/ There’s one week and one day to go before Generous Thinking ships.
I. Am. Excite. 2019-01-08T13:36:36Z https://kfitz.info/the-interface/ Yesterday afternoon, I taught my first new class in almost nine years.
Seriously, nine years. At the end of the Spring 2010 semester, I went on sabbatical, and then I joined the staff of the MLA. And while I did teach here at MSU... 2018-12-18T23:01:01Z https://kfitz.info/18-december-2018-1801/ That report? That had me terrified? I’ve been working steadily on it, and while I have a lot to go, I’ve turned the corner into being SUPER EXCITED about where it seems to be leading. 2018-12-10T22:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/10-december-2018-1722/ I’m working on a big piece of writing that’s had me a bit paralyzed, both because there seem to be too many unknowns as yet and because the stakes of this particular piece of writing — a report! — are enormously high. Over the last couple of days,... 2018-11-13T18:00:17Z https://kfitz.info/13-november-2018-1300/ Eeeeeeee! 2018-11-03T20:40:04Z https://kfitz.info/3-november-2018-1640/ Johns Hopkins UP’s higher ed catalog:
a. Includes several... 2018-10-29T19:53:06Z https://kfitz.info/29-october-2018-1553/ Adding to Things: a semi-annual reminder to re-read this blog post and its various links. Boy does four-years-ago me sound familiar. 2018-10-29T13:31:43Z https://kfitz.info/29-october-2018-0931/ Day 1 of my attempt to return to early-morning focus. It was challenging, but I’m hoping that it might help create some much needed clarity for the day (and days) ahead. 2018-10-28T13:09:01Z https://kfitz.info/focus/ I’ve been having some difficulty getting myself to focus lately. Some of the scatteredness I feel is undoubtedly situational: I have traveled four of the last six weeks, and on the two I haven’t traveled, I’ve been in at least one day-long local... 2018-10-22T21:34:25Z https://kfitz.info/22-october-2018-1734/ I drove to city hall this afternoon and turned in my absentee ballot. In doing so, I saved $0.80 in postage and paid $1.85 in parking. But considering the crap luck I’ve had with absentee voting in the past (I’m looking at you, 2016), I’m... 2018-10-19T15:35:45Z https://kfitz.info/19-october-2018-1135/ Hey, there’s a thing! On Amazon! About which I am excited! #generousthinking 2018-10-12T21:04:12Z https://kfitz.info/12-october-2018-1704/ Okay, if anybody knows what it is that my calendar says I’m “busy” with on November 28, do let me know. 2018-10-12T12:54:00Z https://kfitz.info/12-october-2018-0854/ I’m delighted to be in Minneapolis today and tomorrow for the Politics and Aesthetics of Obsolescence, sponsored by the Moving Image & Media Studies... 2018-10-05T22:04:15Z https://kfitz.info/5-october-2018-1804/ I am sliding back and forth between incandescent take-to-the-streets rage and bleak take-to-my-bed despair. 2018-09-28T14:21:31Z https://kfitz.info/28-september-2018-1021/ I am attempting to proofread this thing about generosity and the public good today, but there’s something interfering with my concentration. Call it my apoplectic levels of rage. Yesterday was despair-inducing, but like 2018-09-20T18:37:55Z https://kfitz.info/20-september-2018-1437/ “What motivates otherwise ordinary people to abandon all pretense of mercy when faced with the abject need for it?” A story that is both horrifying, and... 2018-09-17T19:55:48Z https://kfitz.info/in-production/ I sat down this afternoon to force myself to write a blog post, as I haven’t been doing much in the way of writing of late, and am feeling a bit cramped because of it.
Or perhaps it’s more fair to say that I haven’t been doing much in the... 2018-09-12T20:06:56Z https://kfitz.info/12-september-2018-1606/ “Thundering Manichean dumbassery” is among the best phrases I have read in recent days. 2018-09-04T10:32:12Z https://kfitz.info/4-september-2018-0632/ On 4 September 2018, 11 national research funding organisation, with the support of the European Commission including the European Research Council (ERC), announced the launch of cOAlition S, an initiative to make full and immediate... 2018-09-02T15:48:50Z https://kfitz.info/2-september-2018-1148/ I have just finished reviewing the copy edits on a forthcoming project and am moved to send a shout-out to the awesome copy editors of the world. It can be painful at moments to see the flaws in what you wrote laid bare, but the process inevitably... 2018-08-30T15:33:11Z https://kfitz.info/30-august-2018-1133/ Last year, just about this time, Humanities Commons (@humcommons) received its 10,000th member. This morning, we hit 15,000. Come join this growing community and share... 2018-08-23T10:29:23Z https://kfitz.info/23-august-2018-0629/ How did I miss that my beloved 1Password added 2FA capability over two years ago? Now that iOS 12 is apparently 2018-08-22T14:46:50Z https://kfitz.info/22-august-2018-1046/ I hope these two are getting the band back together today. 2018-08-21T23:00:40Z https://kfitz.info/21-august-2018-1900/ This is the first time in I can’t remember when that I’ve sat in front of a browser refreshing over and over and thinking MOAR NEWS PLS. 2018-08-19T22:41:00Z https://kfitz.info/19-august-2018-1839/ One thing I didn’t note in today’s post: the star system has not only distorted the flow of resources through our institutions, but has also deformed our relations with one another by determining what behavior we’ll accept... 2018-08-19T14:21:31Z https://kfitz.info/stars/ Two things that have me thinking this morning: First, the thread from Timothy Burke beginning here:

The academic star system of the 1980s and 1990s in the humanities created a group of people who believed they were better than... 2018-08-16T19:19:50Z https://kfitz.info/16-august-2018-1515/ She was absolutely everything. 2018-08-16T15:50:34Z https://kfitz.info/themes/ Sigh. I am wrestling with a few problems here, which have me a bit stymied. The theme you currently see[1] is a child theme of 2018-08-16T11:16:20Z https://kfitz.info/3310-2/ Imagine a little GIF of a caution sign displaying a man digging. Or a cute note asking you to forgive our dust. There’s a bit of renovation taking place around here, but it doesn’t compare to what’s happening outside my window. 2018-08-15T23:19:26Z https://kfitz.info/3307-2/ Well, @Twitter has officially broken @Tweetbot, so I’m likely to be around there less. Look for me on micro.blog; I’m @kfitz... 2018-08-15T18:52:14Z https://kfitz.info/looking-forward/ Today started with a bang: two back-to-back meetings over coffee, each of which was filled with possibilities for extending some of the projects I’ve been working on here. I left each meeting profoundly excited, and I don’t think it was just the... 2018-08-15T15:20:28Z https://kfitz.info/3299-2/ At some point in the last few weeks I read a blog post about connecting the Aside format in WordPress to micro.blog in a way that includes the date/time as a post title but then suppresses the title from the WP timeline and the RSS feed. Does this... 2018-08-12T16:03:00Z https://kfitz.info/3297-2/ I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Lexington for the Transylvania Seminar: fantastic conversations about the principles and practices of... 2018-08-10T11:54:53Z https://kfitz.info/3291-2/ This has been a rough week: some serious disappointments and a lot of bureaucratic annoyances. But today I get to participate in a seminar on the history and future of liberal education, and it’s hard to imagine a greater privilege. 2018-08-02T21:28:30Z https://kfitz.info/3278-2/ It’s been a good-news-bad-news kinda day. I got word of two unsuccessful grant proposals, but I also got amazing comments on them: positive, supportive, enthusiastic, and helpful.
I’m putting this out there for two reasons: first, because I... 2018-07-29T14:32:41Z https://kfitz.info/3268-2/ New tools become tenable only if the attendant social organization of labor changes in concert with the development of the tools, if adjustments are made to the ways that labor and expertise are divided and that resources and rewards... 2018-07-25T18:44:43Z https://kfitz.info/3265-2/ So, trying this again: I posted a few preliminary thoughts this morning about the relationship between sustainability and solidarity. I’d love to hear your ideas, and in particular suggestions for... 2018-07-25T18:27:11Z https://kfitz.info/3263-2/ Word to the wise: Gutenberg, at least at the moment, does not permit writing in Markdown. Nor does it accept incoming Markdown from, say, micro.blog. Ask me how... 2018-07-25T13:24:51Z https://kfitz.info/sustainability-and-solidarity/ I’ve been thinking a fair bit about sustainability of late. To a significant extent, this thinking has been encouraged by my recent attempts to ensure that a non-profit scholarly network to which I’m deeply... 2018-07-24T14:57:21Z https://kfitz.info/3245-2/ For the last week-plus, I’ve had The Bee Gees’ “Nights on Broadway” on repeat in my head. It’s not the worst earworm I’ve ever had, but it did finally drive me to look up the lyrics so I had something more coherent than “Blay menemah (blay... 2018-07-23T23:39:24Z https://kfitz.info/3243-2/ From earlier today, thinking about RSS and cultivating community on the decentralized web: Feeds and Gardens. 2018-07-23T11:09:47Z https://kfitz.info/feeds-and-gardens/ My last post, Connections, gathered a fair bit of response — enough that you can see a good example of Webmentions in action below it. There’s a little back-and-forth discussion there that mostly took place on Twitter,... 2018-07-20T18:10:42Z https://kfitz.info/3234-2/ Earlier today, I did a bit of musing about the decentralized, distributed, and yet radically interconnected future that I hope scholarly communication might have, and a few small steps I’ve been taking in that... 2018-07-20T12:57:28Z https://kfitz.info/connections/ One of the instigating factors in my recent migration from my original plannedobsolescence.net domain to kfitz.info, and in my attempts to collect and reinvigorate my... 2018-07-19T16:57:37Z https://kfitz.info/3226-2/ I didn’t whine enough before, apparently, so I’m doing it now. 2018-07-19T16:56:12Z https://kfitz.info/insomnia/ There are few complaints that make me feel whinier than does insomnia, but there’s at least a little bit of pleasure in the whining, because there are also few complaints that produce more immediate, genuine sympathy. Not being able to sleep is no... 2018-07-19T13:01:19Z https://kfitz.info/3220-2/ Insomnia is the worst. Woke up this morning at 1.52 and could not go back to sleep for anything. Finally got up and made coffee at 4.00. Tried to nap around 6.00, without much success. Am, shall we say, not at my sharpest today. 2018-07-18T20:53:52Z https://kfitz.info/3216-2/ On Monday, I spent a chunk of the day thinking with smart folks in our Digital Scholarship Lab thinking about the collaborations we might inspire and support. (And playing with modeling clay.) 2018-07-18T20:17:05Z https://kfitz.info/3208-2/ I’ve spent the day with some smart MSU folks thinking about our Digital Presence and Public Scholarship Initiative and the ways it might help encourage more process-focused, publicly engaged, dialogic... 2018-07-14T20:55:08Z https://kfitz.info/3186-2/ I’m experimenting with Webmentions and Semantic Linkbacks, at Chris Aldrich’s suggestion. Theoretically, if you reply to this post on micro.blog, the... 2018-07-13T21:27:28Z https://kfitz.info/why-not-blog/ My friend Alan Jacobs, a key inspiration in my return (such as it is, so far) to blogging and RSS and a generally pre-Twitter/Facebook outlook on the scholarly internet, is pondering the... 2018-07-13T18:46:49Z https://kfitz.info/3152-2/ I have this far snuck into all three of my books (those published and those forthcoming) by the back window. I’m not sure why I’m surprised to find that the thing I thought I would write next might not be welcoming me in via the front door. But... 2018-07-11T11:22:45Z https://kfitz.info/3148-2/ This is what gives me hope for the future of the institution: “These three imperatives—to keep the... 2018-07-02T10:18:20Z https://kfitz.info/wrapping-up/ Yesterday, I wrapped up the revisions on Generous Thinking, and I’m finding myself of very mixed minds about where I am today. On the one hand, I am super excited about getting the manuscript into the press’s hands, getting it moving... 2018-07-01T13:12:42Z https://kfitz.info/3140-2/ After spending 14 of the last 18 days on the road, I am ecstatic to be sitting at the computer in my pajamas, finishing up some last edits on Generous Thinking. I had a great time at... 2018-06-21T15:00:17Z https://kfitz.info/3098-2/ I went to bed at 8 last night, as I had to get up at 3 for a flight. When I woke up, my watch said 9:30, and I flipped out! Why hadn’t my alarm gone off? I’ve missed my flight! I was all the way up and making the bed before I realized: p.m. In my... 2018-06-20T11:18:50Z https://kfitz.info/3094-2/ I have been quiet. Trying to imagine what I could say that could possibly make any sense whatsoever of the horrors around us. Trying not to start crying for fear that I won’t be able to stop. 2018-06-14T19:21:34Z https://kfitz.info/3089-2/ I hate conclusions.[1]

Okay, I don’t hate them.... 2018-06-05T16:34:43Z https://kfitz.info/la-plus-rare-et-la-plus-pure/ After yesterday’s search for the source of Simone Weil’s oft-quoted “Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity” went a bit Lot-49ish on me, I wondered whether I should just have been satisfied... 2018-06-03T12:45:57Z https://kfitz.info/generosity-and-attention/ Among the reading I’ve picked up thanks to suggestions from the most generous readers of the draft of Generous Thinking is a bit of Simone Weil. Alan Jacobs, who pointed me toward her... 2018-06-03T12:19:31Z https://kfitz.info/3070-2/ The return home, post-vacation, presented its usual challenges, not least the fragmentation and scattering of my attention in a dozen directions. I am working on recentering, even as I once again pick up all those neglected obligations. 2018-05-26T12:23:41Z https://kfitz.info/3067-2/ I have somehow managed to achieve a state of vacation equilibrium that I previously thought mythical: Not a day too short. Not a day too long. Perfectly restful. So glad to be heading home. 2018-05-25T15:30:04Z https://kfitz.info/3064-2/ Our lake house, not incidentally, came with its own bear. 2018-05-25T15:28:48Z https://kfitz.info/3061-2/ Heading back home after an amazing two weeks spent writing and reading and staring at the lake. Just the fast reboot I needed to make the transition to summer. 2018-05-24T22:46:16Z https://kfitz.info/3059-2/ We drove into this place on the northern coast of the Upper Peninsula two weeks ago tomorrow, and there was not a leaf to be found. Over the course of three days this week, everything went green. It’s the edge of summer here now. I so regret not... 2018-05-24T17:23:53Z https://kfitz.info/3057-2/ “The Media & Democracy Network aggregates & curates academic research, news, and opinion investigating the close relationship between media, technology, and democracy.” 2018-05-23T17:08:43Z https://kfitz.info/3054-2/ I just got informed of a privacy policy update from a service I’ve never heard of. Is GDPR becoming a tactic for scammers? 2018-05-23T11:21:56Z https://kfitz.info/3052-2/ From Jade E. Davis, Draft of Empathy Manifesto #1: “To be in the shoes of an Other still leaves you with your own... 2018-05-22T21:55:22Z https://kfitz.info/3047-2/ It’s going to be hard to leave here. 2018-05-22T16:26:21Z https://kfitz.info/3044-2/ WE. ARE. THE. WOLVES. 2018-05-21T20:47:27Z https://kfitz.info/3042-2/ Okay, it appears that I’ve managed to get micro.blog posts connected to the aside post type and the micro category at kfitz.info, while ensuring that email subscribers to the blog don’t get these updates filling... 2018-05-21T18:53:52Z https://kfitz.info/3040-2/ A few immediate issues popped up in my micro experiment: markdown wasn’t enabled on the blog so posts there were, well, in markdown. And I’ve had to add a filter so that email followers don’t these posts. This one is a test to see if I’ve... 2018-05-21T17:31:18Z https://kfitz.info/3037-2/ I’ve gotten to spend the last week-plus in a house on the shore of a lake far from nearly all demands other than revising Generous Thinking. It’s been blissful. 2018-05-21T16:36:50Z https://kfitz.info/3033-2/ Thanks to @ayjay, I’m testing out micro.blog, linking the “aside” post type here and — if all goes well — eventually to twitter dot com as well. I’ve been working on consolidating my digital presence, and I’m hopeful that this might help. 2018-05-21T14:35:44Z https://kfitz.info/on-generosity-and-obligation/ I am returning, at last, to the thoughts I was exploring in my recent posts on Miranda Joseph’s Against the Romance of Community (post 1 | post 2),... 2018-05-17T14:43:13Z https://kfitz.info/writing-is-hard/ And then there are the mornings when I can spend two hours trying to untangle the logic in a single paragraph. I’ll grant that the thing I’m trying to say isn’t, and shouldn’t be, simple. And the paragraph is one of the keys to explaining why this... 2018-05-15T19:59:53Z https://kfitz.info/reading-anxiety-possibility/ Every so often you come across That Book, the exact thing you need to read, and a lot of the time it’s something that you might not have run into before and that you certainly had no idea you needed to read, and probably wouldn’t have except that... 2018-04-25T19:01:25Z https://kfitz.info/strategy-and-solidarity/ As I noted in my last post, I recently read Miranda Joseph’s Against the Romance of Community as a means of thinking a bit more deeply about the ways that Generous Thinking... 2018-04-20T19:53:39Z https://kfitz.info/community-privatization-efficiency/ Thanks to a recommendation from Danica Savonick, I’ve been reading Miranda Joseph’s Against the Romance of Community. Danica pointed... 2018-04-19T00:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/whats-new/ Over the last couple of months, I opened Generous Thinking to a community review process at Humanities Commons. I am thrilled with 2018-04-03T11:35:50Z https://kfitz.info/in-revision/ Yesterday morning, I closed comments on the open review of Generous Thinking. I’m enormously grateful to everyone who took the time to read and give me feedback on the project: 30 commenters left... 2018-02-28T13:06:38Z https://kfitz.info/community-review/ In my last book, Planned Obsolescence, I argued for the potentials of open, peer-to-peer review as a means of shedding some light on the otherwise often hidden processes... 2018-01-01T13:50:41Z https://kfitz.info/chaos-or-community/ “In the book Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community, Martin Luther King, Jr. told the citizens of this nation, with prophetic insight, that we would be unable to go forward if we did not experience a ‘true revolution of... 2017-11-10T15:44:06Z https://kfitz.info/on-developing-networked-communities/ I dropped what a friend of mine referred to as a “Twitter bomb” this morning, spurred on by a question raised by Tim Hutchings:

SH has a more inclusive name than... 2017-10-20T11:36:49Z https://kfitz.info/the-commons-and-the-common-good/ Earlier this week, I took a whirlwind trip back to my old New York stomping grounds, where I both had the opportunity to catch up with my colleagues at... 2017-10-12T16:08:20Z https://kfitz.info/desire-paths/ (Note added, 2024-07-20: This post was originally published in 2017 as a test of a new blog I'd... 2017-08-07T20:17:16Z https://kfitz.info/parting-gifts/ Today marks the start of my last week working at the MLA. It’s been a fantastic six years, and I’m enormously grateful to have had the opportunity to work on so many fascinating projects, and with such great colleagues... 2017-08-01T14:45:23Z https://kfitz.info/sustainability/ As we’ve just announced, the MLA is grateful to have received a generous grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in support of the next phase of... 2017-06-20T17:05:58Z https://kfitz.info/next-steps/ Six years ago, I had the privilege of joining the staff of the Modern Language Association as Director of Scholarly Communication. My goal was to help the association and its members explore how developing digital... 2017-03-01T15:30:57Z https://kfitz.info/things-i-have-learned-from-other-peoples-use-of-my-email-address/ Kevin Fitzpatrick’s monthly AT&T Wireless bill is creeping higher month by month, and unless he’s got family members on his account, he should probably seek a better plan.
Kevin also apparently had some serious damage to his 2013 Dodge,... 2017-01-30T14:43:03Z https://kfitz.info/murkier-and-unknown/ “To acknowledge these horrors means turning away from the brightly rendered version of your country as it has always declared itself and turning toward something murkier and unknown. It is still too difficult for most Americans to do... 2017-01-23T14:23:45Z https://kfitz.info/reading-privacy-and-scholarly-networks/ Sarah Bond published a column on Forbes.com this morning on the importance of not for profit scholarly networks. I’m... 2017-01-19T12:52:10Z https://kfitz.info/hard-awful-things/ “You know, the question isn’t whether we’re going to have to do hard, awful things, because we are. We all are. The question is whether we have to do them alone.”
Kate Braestrup, in Krista Tippett, Becoming Wise: An... 2016-11-14T16:12:18Z https://kfitz.info/moving-forward/ For the last week, I have been less than a page away from finishing a draft of the chapter on reading (see the overview for more on that), but found myself unable to press... 2016-11-09T12:28:50Z https://kfitz.info/this-morning-2/ I am wanting desperately to find some still place to regroup, but I have to keep moving: I have to pack and get myself to the airport and go home, where I have to prepare for some beloved guests who will be arriving from the U.K. and all I can... 2016-10-05T13:33:37Z https://kfitz.info/generous-thinking-introduction/ The text below is a revised version of a talk I gave at the University of Richmond this spring. It’s the first bit of writing toward my very much in-process project, Generous... 2016-10-02T16:23:12Z https://kfitz.info/generous-thinking-the-university-and-the-public-good/ I have been working — painfully slowly, but nonetheless working — on a new project for something that is showing every sign of turning into a book. I’m still in the phase in which the thing is a bit hard to discuss, as I’m really figuring out what... 2016-09-07T12:43:58Z https://kfitz.info/not-running/ Over the years, I’ve posted a lot here about running, from chronicling my marathon training to pondering my deep ambivalence (if not flat out... 2016-08-20T14:56:02Z https://kfitz.info/starting-again-again/ I have been working for the last year-ish on a new long-form writing project. The project is proceeding slowly, mostly because of time limitations.[1] But it is proceeding, which is... 2016-08-19T17:58:33Z https://kfitz.info/tinkering-2/ I’ve just finished a bit of tinkering around here. I’m hoping, of course, that the desire to tinker might signal an imminent desire to actually write new things that might warrant a refreshed platform. But that, as always, remains to be seen. 2016-04-11T13:29:15Z https://kfitz.info/meta/ I have just had one of those moments in which writing about the reasons I’m having trouble writing the thing I’m trying to write just made the thing I’m trying to write become far more clear. As in previous such instances (c.f. the opening of the... 2015-10-26T11:56:45Z https://kfitz.info/academia-not-edu/ Last week’s close attention to open access, its development, its present state, and its potential futures, surfaced not only the importance for both the individual scholar and the field at large of sharing work as openly as possible, with a range... 2015-10-19T13:25:15Z https://kfitz.info/opening-up-open-access/ It’s Open Access Week, and as befits the occasion, I’m starting it this morning by thinking about what we’ve accomplished, what obstacles we’ve found — or even, if I might dare to whisper,... 2015-09-29T17:00:05Z https://kfitz.info/the-neh-at-50/ The National Endowment for the Humanities is celebrating its 50th anniversary today. I’m joining many scholars, writers, filmmakers, educators, and countless others online today in thinking about the ways that the... 2015-09-27T19:08:09Z https://kfitz.info/on-womens-pain/ We cannot normalize women’s pain as acceptable collateral damage.
Lili Loofbourow, “Planned Parenthood Saved My... 2015-09-27T17:13:04Z https://kfitz.info/the-political-economics-of-open-access/ Oh, this this this:

I’m increasingly feeling that the old debates (what’s a reasonable cost, green vs gold, hybrid vs pure) are sterile and misleading. That we are missing fundamental economic and political issues in funding... 2015-09-25T14:02:55Z https://kfitz.info/boehner/ Seriously, I’m trying to make sure I’m reading this right. Is John Boehner being forced out of Congress for not shutting the government down enough? Because... 2015-09-20T15:41:37Z https://kfitz.info/stalked-by-suicide/ “[A]t about the 10th, I started feeling as if it was inevitable — that it is going to get us all and there is nothing we could do to stop it.”
— 2015-09-17T19:33:48Z https://kfitz.info/recalibration/ Today has been a day filled with making progress on a slew of different writing projects, adding a paragraph to this one, reviewing some comments on that one, thinking about some ancillary materials to go with another. It’s also been filled with... 2015-09-16T20:08:40Z https://kfitz.info/e-audio/ Please, please, please, somebody tell me that iTunes 12.3 undoes the certainty with which 12.2 decided that about half of my e-books were #actually audiobooks, no matter how many times I told it otherwise, thereby completely borking my... 2015-09-16T13:51:13Z https://kfitz.info/pretty-hurts/ A gorgeous cover, and a beautiful video, from an a cappella group at JMU. 2015-09-16T12:07:48Z https://kfitz.info/helpahmedmake/ I am utterly, utterly crushed by this story. What a way to destroy the... 2015-09-14T18:45:05Z https://kfitz.info/library-of-america/ David Skinner’s fascinating history of the Library of America details both the slow path to overcoming ingrained... 2015-09-12T18:46:24Z https://kfitz.info/running-2/ This is another in a periodic series of updates in which I announce that I’m trying to work my way back into running a bit more regularly once again, and invite you to find me on Runkeeper if you’re doing the... 2015-09-12T13:43:34Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-stay/ I think now the greatest challenge to changing the system from within is changing the system within. Graduate education is the feeder for a kind of strong culture that is far more binding than the gears of bureaucracy are. Make no... 2015-09-11T19:27:10Z https://kfitz.info/vox-victorians/ There are good and careful interpreters, and bad ones. Part of the job of the person who is in love with history is to recognize the difference.
Rebecca Onion, 2015-09-11T18:31:23Z https://kfitz.info/names/ When I was in sixth grade, I decided that I hated the way that folks where I grew up pronounced my first name (think three syllables), so I convinced everyone to call me by a shortened nickname version (think first initial). This was a fine... 2015-09-10T12:41:44Z https://kfitz.info/birthday-skype/ I logged in to Skype for a conference call yesterday afternoon and immediately received a message letting me know that it was the birthday of someone with whom I’ve collaborated on a few projects.
Don’t get me wrong — I have actually come... 2015-09-09T21:27:08Z https://kfitz.info/shhhh/ Don’t let the thunderstorm know where I am. 2015-09-09T12:55:31Z https://kfitz.info/pmla/ One of the added responsibilities that has come to me with my new position is serving as managing editor of PMLA. In that capacity,... 2015-09-08T23:10:14Z https://kfitz.info/untied/ As a long-time Continental frequent flyer, I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to hear of the corruption investigation that has apparently brought down... 2015-09-08T14:07:55Z https://kfitz.info/greed/ I’m pretty sure that if I were driven by greed academic publishing is not the business I’d go into….
Alan Jacobs, “Academic... 2015-09-08T13:18:41Z https://kfitz.info/chicken/ This, except with 2+ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Four hours in the slow cooker, on high. Makes brilliant tacos. 2015-09-07T13:26:53Z https://kfitz.info/whats-in-my-bag/ What refugees bring when they run for their lives. 2015-09-06T19:39:45Z https://kfitz.info/unquenchable/ For many years, I lived with a diet Coke addiction. It wasn’t bad in terms of quantity, but it was serious in its regularity: it was hard for me to go a day without one. The cravings that resulted were intense.
I’ve been all but diet Coke... 2014-12-14T21:33:14Z https://kfitz.info/cultural-studies-alibi/ I would rather talk about the problems of ethics, value, trust, hierarchy, and labor in academic life than use cultural studies as an alibi, one more time, for the urgency of responding to the institutional pressures of the present... 2014-12-11T22:36:20Z https://kfitz.info/communities/ [Crossposted from The New York Academy of Medicine’s Center for the History of Medicine and Public Health, which has published a cluster... 2014-07-20T13:10:38Z https://kfitz.info/must/ There are the things you know you ought to do, that are hard to do, in part because the “ought to” of them is pretty abstract, especially when they are surrounded by so many other pressing, concrete demands. For me, a whole lot of stuff has long... 2014-06-15T13:02:49Z https://kfitz.info/attention/ Yesterday was a lovely, quiet Saturday. I got up early, went through my morning routine, and then went for a walk in the park. I did laundry, I had lunch, I took a little nap. I spent part of the day with the book I’m currently reading (Judith... 2014-06-08T22:40:20Z https://kfitz.info/reluctant-is-just-the-word/ Boone captures something here that I really needed to have drilled into my head: that if I’m going to get over my recent dread w/r/t running, I... 2014-06-01T12:27:08Z https://kfitz.info/the-royal-society-and-the-profession-of-knowledge/ Philosophical writers vested much of their identities and reputations in their printed works, so that counterfeiting, abridgment, translation, and piracy threatened them with far more than merely economic damage. The repute of the... 2014-05-11T15:01:19Z https://kfitz.info/mistakes-in-the-texts/ Instead of trying to find mistakes in the texts, I suggest we take the point of view that our authors created these apparent “contradictions” in order to get readers like us to ponder more interesting questions. 2014-05-10T22:07:25Z https://kfitz.info/reading-with-the-grain/ The most difficult implication of this idea is the need to outgrow our supposedly Benjaminian habits of reading against the grain — the phrase the functioned as a byword for theoretically informed criticism in the second half of the... 2014-05-10T15:43:47Z https://kfitz.info/surfaces/ I’m contemplating a new writing project, and as I often do in the early stages of such projects, I’m beginning by thinking about the surfaces on which I’m going to do that writing, and the surfaces on which that writing will eventually appear.... 2014-04-28T18:56:09Z https://kfitz.info/pulled-pork-the-remix/ We are finally, finally, in the thick of spring — the sun is out, at least some of the time, and the windows are open, at least part of the day. And the ability to stand being outside for more than ten minutes at a time has me pondering the things... 2014-02-11T19:21:55Z https://kfitz.info/evolving-standards-and-practices-in-tenure-and-promotion-reviews/ The following is the text of a talk I gave last week at the University of North Texas’s Academic Leadership Workshop. I’m hoping to develop this further, and so would love any thoughts or responses.
I’m happy to be here with you... 2013-12-29T13:29:11Z https://kfitz.info/being-wrong/ Intermittently over the last year, I’ve found myself fumbling around an idea about critical temporalities. That is: ideas keep moving, keep developing, even after you’ve locked them down in print or pixels. You continue developing your own ideas,... 2013-12-25T14:18:41Z https://kfitz.info/the-tree/ I hunted through the cabinets where I’ve stored the old family photos to find this one this morning. It’s probably my favorite Christmas picture.
There are so many things about this... 2013-12-24T14:23:13Z https://kfitz.info/tools-and-values/ I’ve been writing a bit about peer review and its potential futures of late, an essay that’s been solicited for a forthcoming edited volume. Needless to say, this is a subject I’ve spent a lot of time considering, between the research I did for 2013-10-20T16:07:01Z https://kfitz.info/engage-disengage-repeat/ I believe that I have caught myself just this side of a major case of burnout.
If that sentence is an exaggeration, it’s not by much. A few friends who had the dubious pleasure of talking with me just after I arrived at THATCamp Leadership... 2013-08-30T14:14:21Z https://kfitz.info/i-am-not-blogging/ This post is likely little more than a bit of ritual throat-clearing, designed to help me get past a stage in the trying-to-write-again process in which I simply cannot get myself to focus on what it is that I need to write (promised articles... 2013-08-14T13:03:49Z https://kfitz.info/ugh/ I honestly don’t know what’s worse: that I never knew these lyrics at all until @Karnythia... 2013-07-24T13:13:34Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-working-vacation/ As I posted a while back, I’ve been on an extended European trip this summer, beginning with several conferences, followed by a pretty blissful four-week stint in Prague. As week four begins today, and as I see this... 2013-07-14T08:55:20Z https://kfitz.info/get-me-rewrite/ Consider this a plea for help:
This site has been through some serious migrations over the years. It’s had two different hosting providers and three different blog platforms, among other kinds of changes. As a result, its permalink... 2013-06-21T08:37:58Z https://kfitz.info/eleven/ I have once again missed my own anniversary. It turns out that June 18, the day I launched this summer’s adventure, was the day this blog turned 11.
Eleven! Planned Obsolescence is fully a tween, alternately... 2013-06-20T13:13:56Z https://kfitz.info/getting-back-to-my-own-work/ One would think, this many years and books and articles into a writing career, that I might have solved the getting-started problem by now. Or if not the getting-started problem, then at least the keeping-going problem. Not so much,... 2013-06-18T16:23:54Z https://kfitz.info/summer-2013/ Having wrapped up a whirlwind spring, in which I successfully got through the craziness of buying an apartment in NYC, got myself more or less moved into it, closed down my California office and shipped everything east, and attended a ton of... 2013-04-26T16:27:25Z https://kfitz.info/what-happened/ [As many of you know, MediaCommons disappeared for a couple of days this week. It’s (almost entirely) back now, but we wanted to explain what happened, and to start rebuilding not just the... 2013-04-25T22:14:31Z https://kfitz.info/cheese/ Thanks to Matt Kirschenbaum’s English 668K at the University of Maryland, I have been alerted to the fact that searching for me on JSTOR brings up my very first publication, 2013-04-24T18:44:48Z https://kfitz.info/dear-hosting-provider/ Weirdly, when our team said “let’s upgrade our server” got a message saying “we’re going to upgrade your server,” we didn’t expect you to redirect our DNS entry to a machine so new that it has no... 2013-04-13T21:10:59Z https://kfitz.info/running/ I’ve had an on-and-off romance with running for nearly 20 years now. I came to it late; I hated running as a kid, and I avoided it as much as I could in high school. And given that on the one hand I was pretty notably underweight until my mid-20s,... 2013-04-02T13:03:37Z https://kfitz.info/doubts/ It’s not easy to write or talk about doubts. The things we have doubts about are often precisely those things that are most important, both to us and to those around us: a relationship, a job, a major life choice. If they weren’t important, our... 2013-02-27T13:54:18Z https://kfitz.info/future-publishing/ Back in the late spring of last year, I participated in a panel discussion on the future of publishing in visual culture studies, as part of the Now! Visual Culture symposium held at... 2013-02-22T14:22:37Z https://kfitz.info/productivity-and-goofing-off/ Lately I’ve found myself in one of those periods — perhaps we might refer to it as “my forties” — in which I’m so overwhelmed with the details involved in just keeping up with the most immediate and pressing tasks ahead of me that not only have I... 2013-01-27T04:55:27Z https://kfitz.info/disagreement/ Tim McCormick posted an extremely interesting followup to my last post. If you haven’t read it, you... 2013-01-25T17:01:58Z https://kfitz.info/if-you-cant-say-anything-nice/ Folks, we need to have a conversation. About Twitter. And generosity. And public shaming.
First let me note that I have been as guilty of what I’m about to describe as anyone. You get irritated by something — something someone said or... 2012-12-13T14:37:13Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-that-word/ This is in part an apology for having ranted and run yesterday; between the little project I’m trying to get launched in the next couple of weeks and a meeting that took up a good chunk of yesterday, I wasn’t able to stay on top of the... 2012-12-12T15:45:25Z https://kfitz.info/neoliberal/ I have come to despise the term “neoliberal,” to the extent that I’d really like to see it stricken from academic vocabularies everywhere. It’s less that I have a problem with the actual critique that the term is meant to levy than with the... 2012-12-10T14:53:03Z https://kfitz.info/feeling-my-way-through/ I find myself at one of those moments at which everything is great and yet nothing seems to be working exactly right. I’ve got an enormous deadline just ahead — not, alas, the “boy, I’m going to blow that deadline and then I’m going to feel... 2012-11-28T14:32:34Z https://kfitz.info/moving-on-2/ I somewhat inadvertently made a big announcement via Twitter last night, and in so doing, as my friend Julie pointed out, sorta buried the lede. So here’s the story, a bit better presented:
Effective the end of this academic year, I’ve... 2012-11-13T13:40:26Z https://kfitz.info/outward-and-visible-signs/ I have an idea I’m backing into writing about this morning as I stand on the subway platform, a thing that I’m thinking about as “A Theory of the Information Class,” which attempts to unpack the bizarre merger of Weber and Veblen that so many of... 2012-11-09T15:34:59Z https://kfitz.info/warming-up-2/ What happened?
Last time I looked, it was the end of October, and I was having my more-or-less monthly freakout about the apparent acceleration of time. This freakout was particularly acute because of a really big, super important, and... 2012-10-09T13:26:34Z https://kfitz.info/out-of-the-habit/ I find myself lately pretty continually dismayed by the frequency with which I have to acknowledge that I’ve lost my good habits. I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing every morning; I’ve gotten out of the habit of leaving work on time in order... 2012-10-01T14:36:42Z https://kfitz.info/advice-on-academic-blogging-tweeting-whatever/ Over the weekend, something hashtagged as #twittergate was making the rounds among the tweeps. I haven’t dug into the full history (though Adeline 2012-09-26T12:51:27Z https://kfitz.info/slow-down/ I’m having one of those seasons already – one minute, it’s Labor Day, and the next, it’s almost October, and it’s not entirely clear what’s happened in the meantime. I know I had a couple of trips, and gave a bunch of talks, and sat in a ton of... 2012-09-17T18:50:13Z https://kfitz.info/public-responsibility-public-access/ Occupy is back today, celebrating the first anniversary of S17 with Strike Debt, a movement meant to call attention to the unconscionable levels of debt that many Americans... 2012-09-13T13:55:22Z https://kfitz.info/the-shape-of-thought/ I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been thinking about the next Big Project. I’ve been circling it for a while, trying to figure out what several of the various things I’ve written recently have to do with one another. And over the last week, I think... 2012-09-12T13:56:02Z https://kfitz.info/making-room/ I’ve just gotten back from a trip (about which, as I said on Twitter, I hope to be able to write soon) to find it pretty solidly fall around here. Less weather-wise, though there... 2012-09-01T14:34:45Z https://kfitz.info/multiple-calendar-query/ Here’s a (rather long) question for the Google Calendar devotees out there:
I’ve long had a personal Gmail account that I’ve done all my scheduling through. (I can’t remember what prompted me to switch my calendaring from the iCal/Mobile Me... 2012-08-30T14:56:56Z https://kfitz.info/stuck/ I find myself in that state again, in which I have a particular writing task — in this case a talk — with a pressing deadline, one that’s pressing enough that I really need to be working on it whenever I have time to write. (Being a talk, its... 2012-08-29T13:06:34Z https://kfitz.info/fall/ Today we’ve got one of those glorious mornings in New York in which you begin to feel the first bits of fall in the air. The sun is up and the temperature and humidity are down. I even saw a young woman walking down Third Avenue wearing a... 2012-08-28T13:20:13Z https://kfitz.info/time-zones/ Though my focus in writing here for the last ten years has mostly been professional, I’ve never tried to pretend that this wasn’t a personal blog. (In fact, I dispute the distinction: my professional life is extremely personal to me, and though my... 2012-08-24T15:17:57Z https://kfitz.info/45/ Yesterday, as I noted then, was my birthday, and it was one that I was surprised to find myself a bit ambivalent about. I haven’t really felt bad about a birthday in that oh-god-I’m-getting-old kind of way since I turned 29. Of course, I look back... 2012-08-23T14:36:58Z https://kfitz.info/you-will-never-get-it-all-done/ The Chronicle’s ProfHacker and Inside Higher Ed’s GradHacker have this week collaborated on a series of posts about productivity... 2012-08-22T13:04:11Z https://kfitz.info/train-of-thought/ The funniest part of yesterday’s post — at least it’s funny to me — is how it got written: on my iPhone, on the subway. I remembered yesterday that, back when I started posting here semi-regularly again in the early summer, I began by jotting down... 2012-08-21T12:36:17Z https://kfitz.info/last-season-on-planned-obsolescence/ One key problem with the blog as a platform for serial scholarship is that it’s much too easy to find yourself interrupted, to lose a train of thought.
Then again, this is a key problem with having a day job in general: that train of... 2012-07-14T12:11:12Z https://kfitz.info/reader-response-in-theory/ In my last post, on blogs as serialized scholarship, I noted that a colleague of mine had posted a link to a prior post on Facebook, resulting in an interesting conversation that I regretted not being... 2012-07-12T12:38:57Z https://kfitz.info/blogs-as-serialized-scholarship/ Over the last two installments of this series, I’ve thought a bit about the relationship between scholarship, seriality, and the unpopular, all of which thinking has been headed... 2012-07-07T08:42:10Z https://kfitz.info/the-unpopular/ This post revolves around two jokes that I’ve heard of late, each of which has been stuck in my head since I heard it. The first joke, as I noted in part 1 of this series, surfaced in a fantastic workshop on... 2012-06-30T13:59:10Z https://kfitz.info/not-the-post-i-want-to-be-writing/ This is, rather, a post for posting’s sake, a post attempting to get out of the way the things that are keeping me from writing the things I actually want to be writing.
Which is to say: stand by for serious whining.
Those of you who... 2012-06-22T15:14:18Z https://kfitz.info/showers-of-the-world/ I’ve been on the road for a little over two weeks now, across three countries and nine time zones, and while I have a host of more serious topics for discussion originating from this trip, the one that’s most concerning me at the moment is the... 2012-06-18T19:02:56Z https://kfitz.info/ten/ I nearly missed it. Again.
Today is the tenth anniversary of my first post here at Planned Obsolescence. 1484 posts later, I’m still here, and I’m thrilled to say that, given the... 2012-06-18T18:13:22Z https://kfitz.info/open-review-a-study-of-contexts-and-practices/ crossposted from MediaCommons:
In April 2011, MediaCommons and NYU Press jointly received a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support a year-long study of open... 2012-06-17T11:59:41Z https://kfitz.info/unpopular-seriality/ Last week, I had the pleasure of participating in a workshop on “Popular Seriality” put together by Jason Mittell, Frank Kelleter, and the Popular Seriality research unit at the University... 2012-06-12T09:40:14Z https://kfitz.info/pynchonesque/ I need to begin this post by thanking Julika Griem for inviting me on what I hope was only a first visit to Frankfurt’s Goethe Universität; it was a privilege to be able to speak there, and I hope to be able to return very soon.
Yesterday... 2012-06-09T10:15:26Z https://kfitz.info/annals-of-comment-spam/ A few days back, I tweeted an amusing bit of comment spam I’d received that morning:

Today in spam comments: ‘Seriously hardly ever do I encounter a blog that is both educative and entertaining, and let me let you know,... 2012-06-08T12:41:03Z https://kfitz.info/ha/ In what universe did I think I was going to get any writing done on my flight?
As it turned out, we boarded an hour late, and then sat on the tarmac for an extra hour after boarding, so by the time we took off I was too exhausted to do much... 2012-06-06T12:01:15Z https://kfitz.info/departure/ This morning is filled with the millions of details required to get self and stuff out the door and on the road for the better part of seven weeks. It’s the always enervating start to what’s bound to be an exciting, energizing trip.
The... 2012-06-05T13:33:17Z https://kfitz.info/astro-sonic/ A much-beloved aunt and uncle of mine who live not too far away from here, in a lovely suburban split-level they moved into — what? 45 years ago? — are preparing to move to an assisted living... 2012-06-04T12:48:17Z https://kfitz.info/spoilerz/ Dear major television scholar who appeared at the very top of my Facebook feed this morning, where I could not avoid you (and I think you know who you are): sticking the word “spoiler” immediately before a most appalling revelation about that... 2012-06-02T12:43:14Z https://kfitz.info/reviews-of-planned-obsolescence/ I’ve been prompted, at last, to update this blog’s about page to reflect more information about the book that shares its name, by the appearance this morning of a review in the 2012-06-01T20:26:36Z https://kfitz.info/elbow-wrist-fingers-pen-words/ I’m at the Bernard L. Schwartz Communication Institute Annual Symposium today, which has been fascinating all the way around. Perhaps the most amazing part of the day, however, was a... 2012-05-30T19:35:43Z https://kfitz.info/itinerary/ I finally managed to purchase the last of my summer plane tickets yesterday.[1] I’ve got a bunch of travel coming up, most of it work-related, but part of it including a bit of actual... 2012-05-29T13:54:45Z https://kfitz.info/shamelessness/ Collin published a fantastic post yesterday thinking through, among other things, love, writing, Roland Barthes, Etsy, and Nietzsche’s Ecce Homo. He’s had reasons for... 2012-05-28T12:03:16Z https://kfitz.info/i-has-a-sad/ I’ve just gone through and pruned my blogroll, taking a look to see who was still active (by a fairly generous definition, given my own lack of activity), who had moved house, and who had gone the way of all things since I last took a hard look at... 2012-05-27T21:03:27Z https://kfitz.info/rearranging-the-deck-chairs/ Some months back, I got pharmahacked, which was a royal pain, needless to say, and which I took extremely personally. (Witness: I got hacked.) Part of what annoyed me so much about the hack was... 2012-05-21T19:18:18Z https://kfitz.info/two-things/ One super-depressing (not least for how 2012-05-19T17:26:32Z https://kfitz.info/intention/ A few weeks ago, as I wrote my last post about balance as not-falling, I very much had yoga on my mind; I’d gone with a friend a few weeks before that to the first class I’d taken in years. (How... 2012-04-28T17:46:01Z https://kfitz.info/placeholder-2/ This is a post designed to see if I’ve managed to unbreak my RSS feed, such that Google Reader and other modes of subscribing to this blog will once again update. Cross your fingers for me.
[UPDATE, 3.20 pm: So it appears that 2012-04-27T13:52:51Z https://kfitz.info/a-constant-process-of-not-falling/ The primary bit of awkwardness involved in not-blogging is the transition to once-again-blogging; there’s guilt and embarrassment, and an overwhelming need to explain where one has been and what one has been doing.
For my part, I have been... 2012-02-14T12:20:59Z https://kfitz.info/open-access-at-10/ I’m really happy (if mildly tired) to be writing from Budapest, where (like Cameron) I’m honored to participate in a meeting on the tenth anniversary... 2012-01-20T00:53:58Z https://kfitz.info/ibooks-authoring-education-and-so-forth/ A quick note: I had the opportunity to attend the Apple Education event today on behalf of ProfHacker, where I posted 2012-01-12T13:03:59Z https://kfitz.info/giving-it-away/ The last talk I gave at MLA 2012 was a keynote for the Council of Editors of Learned Journals, the text of which is below. I’d love any feedback you might have to offer.
—
Giving It Away: Sharing and the Future of Scholarly... 2012-01-10T18:09:23Z https://kfitz.info/response-to-stanley-fish/ I’ve just posted the following response to Stanley Fish’s comments about my book; they should be up once they’re moderated... 2012-01-10T14:46:33Z https://kfitz.info/networking-the-field/ Hi, my name is Kathleen Fitzpatrick. You may remember me from such conventions as the MLA, and from articles such as 2012-01-09T12:32:02Z https://kfitz.info/mla12/ It’s 4.25 am in Seattle, and I’m about to head to the airport, on my way home from MLA 2012. It was an amazing convention — I’ve rarely felt more energized about the opportunities ahead for the field, not to mention the amazing people working in... 2012-01-02T14:29:59Z https://kfitz.info/happy-new-year-2/ We began 2012 yesterday in keeping with tradition, by doing a lot of lying around and recovering. We’d had a late night, which was made doubly late by my downstairs neighbor’s rockin’ party, which rocked on until 3.30 am. So there were naps and... 2011-12-30T16:37:50Z https://kfitz.info/lies-damned-lies/ The elevators in our office building have these little monitors built into them, on which are displayed random tidbits of pseudo-news and other glossy distractions. Because god forbid we should be bored on the ride to the third... 2011-12-27T18:08:21Z https://kfitz.info/the-public-scholars-two-bodies/ I started this blog as an assistant professor, under conditions that were never fully pseudonymous but were perhaps semi-veiled, at least by the fact that very few people knew me, and even fewer of those who did knew anything about blogs. All of... 2011-12-26T18:58:04Z https://kfitz.info/the-year-in-review/ It wouldn’t be the holidays for me without some kind of emotional crisis, I fear; if it’s not a crisis impelled by too-intense familial contact (the kind in which the internal injunction to JUST SMILE HARDER suddenly fails, the kind which can only... 2011-12-22T21:52:26Z https://kfitz.info/oh-the-weather-outside-is-frightfully-warm-for-this-time-of-year/ I’m in the midst of wrapping up a few last items in the office before heading home for the holidays. It’s a slightly odd feeling; this is the first time in almost 20 years that I’m operating on a calendar other than the academic one, meaning that... 2011-12-12T20:57:49Z https://kfitz.info/adventures-in-publishing-contracts/ Some months back I received a contract from a Certain University Press for an article that I’ve got forthcoming in what’s going to be a super cool edited volume. I was a little taken aback, on reading the contract, to discover that I was being... 2011-11-10T18:59:30Z https://kfitz.info/open-peer-review-new-rule/ New rule! From this moment forward, in anything claiming to be a “discussion” of open peer review, no one is allowed to refer to the Nature experiment as evidence... 2011-11-01T13:12:08Z https://kfitz.info/todays-apparently-the-day/ According to Amazon, at least: today is the day that Planned Obsolescence has been released!
The link above is to the paperback version; here’s a link to the 2011-10-12T16:49:13Z https://kfitz.info/things-i-am-writing-instead-of-writing-blog-posts/ Grant proposals!
Reader’s reports.
Email. (Oh dear lord, the email.)
Letters of recommendation.
Conference presentations.

Things I have not been writing instead of writing blog... 2011-09-30T16:51:27Z https://kfitz.info/inside-higher-ed/ And just to round out what has been a completely insane week, an article reviewing Planned Obsolescence, including an interview with me, is up this morning at 2011-09-25T15:15:33Z https://kfitz.info/do-the-risky-thing/ I’ve got a new column up at the Chronicle this morning. This one’s been in the works for a bit, and I’m really happy to have it out in circulation, and to see it... 2011-09-24T17:05:35Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-whats-wrong-with-american-workmanship-today/ I got my watch as a gift in the fall of 2001. The battery that was in it when I received it lasted a really long time — five years, perhaps. And then it died, as they do, and I had it replaced. And the next one lasted a little less long — perhaps... 2011-09-23T20:31:57Z https://kfitz.info/program-committee/ I’ve spent the last two days in a meeting of the MLA Program Committee, thinking about, among other issues, the future shape of the convention — the new kinds of sessions we want to encourage; the new kinds of issues we want to take on. We’ve got... 2011-09-22T12:26:55Z https://kfitz.info/hey-why-the-silence/ So, you may have noticed that there’s a significant gap in the archives here, roughly corresponding with the summer. And you may have asked yourself, gee, is kfitz on vacation?
Not exactly.
The period of my absence roughly... 2011-09-21T12:23:28Z https://kfitz.info/upward-carefully/ After two days at the Ithaka Sustainable Scholarship meeting, I’m back in the office today, and am taking a few minutes to take stock of where I am and... 2011-09-21T00:49:35Z https://kfitz.info/sports-night/ I started rewatching Sports Night on Netflix this week, and am finding myself amazed, first, at how well the show has held up, not to mention how well Josh Charles and Peter Krause have held up thirteen years later.
But... 2011-09-19T15:53:09Z https://kfitz.info/new-air/ Two things I’m noticing about my lovely new MacBook Air (which replaced my 3.5 year old first-generation Air):
1. It’s fast. Especially over wireless. Way way faster than my early-2009 iMac. I’m not sure why that surprises me, but it really... 2011-09-19T13:23:04Z https://kfitz.info/this-morning/ I’m headed to Ithaka Sustainable Scholarship 2011 today and tomorrow. I’m taking advantage of the slightly delayed start by actually sitting in... 2011-09-18T17:37:20Z https://kfitz.info/rebuild-rewrite-redirect/ If you follow me on Twitter, you may have heard me growling a bit over the last week or so about @#$%! SEO blackhats and their @#$%! pharmahack.
Suffice it to say, I’d been gotten, and gotten so... 2011-05-23T14:17:52Z https://kfitz.info/enough/ I’m in what amounts to the last couple of weeks of my sabbatical, and so am finding myself reflecting a bunch on the goals I’d set for myself at the beginning of the year and the utterly 2011-05-22T19:58:34Z https://kfitz.info/complexity/ I’m in the midst of reading Dominick LaCapra’s History in Transit: Experience, Identity, Critical Theory, as I revise 2011-04-29T11:55:12Z https://kfitz.info/moves-and-updates/ The news is starting to make its way out there: I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be joining the Modern Language Association this July as the Director of Scholarly... 2011-04-12T12:15:10Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-receives-mellon-grant-to-study-open-peer-review/ [crossposted from MediaCommons.]
As was reported in 2011-04-10T23:00:17Z https://kfitz.info/i-miss-blogging/ I got myself caught this evening in a thing that happens to me here every so often: I’ll spot an intriguing post title in my “Five Years Ago” block and click and read that post, and get all nostalgic about five years ago, and sometime later... 2011-03-30T11:50:57Z https://kfitz.info/the-never-appeared/ I’m thinking that I’m going to start a new publishing project around here, based around a cluster of essays that I’ve written for various collections that have never actually gotten published — because the editor lost interest in the project, or... 2011-03-26T14:59:25Z https://kfitz.info/on-open-access-publishing/ [The following article was originally published by the Society for Critical Exchange in January 2010; alas, that version has been overrun with... 2011-03-18T08:43:23Z https://kfitz.info/day-of-dh-2011/ I’m participating in the University of Alberta-sponsored Day of DH 2011 today, and so will be posting there (and here) about some of my digital humanities doings as the... 2011-03-09T11:35:02Z https://kfitz.info/more-than-mere-polyester-would-suggest/ Earlier this year, I attended a conference at which I was given a really nice fleece jacket. Really nice.
I’ve known for a while that I harbor a somewhat extreme love for this fleece jacket; it’s become my comfy home top layer of choice,... 2011-03-01T10:23:03Z https://kfitz.info/the-disappearing-month/ For the first time in the nearly nine-year history of this blog, I have failed to post here for an entire calendar month. There will forever be a gap where February 2011 should be in the archives.
I wish I had a good reason for the failure... 2011-01-20T15:46:34Z https://kfitz.info/does-tenure-undermine-academic-freedom/ A compelling argument that it does, at See Also…, with a particularly interesting concluding suggestion:

A... 2011-01-05T13:04:13Z https://kfitz.info/rant/ Things are getting a bit under my skin right now. Maybe it’s exhaustion; yesterday’s travel went as smoothly as it possibly could, with some real cushiness along the way, but it was still a long day, and the time zone change is kicking my butt.... 2011-01-04T07:02:26Z https://kfitz.info/nothing-to-be-done/ We’re at the airport, on our way back to the US. Earlier this morning, as we were checking out of the hotel, I took one last look around the reception area, which was much emptier than it had been at any previous point during our stay. Past one... 2011-01-03T07:01:16Z https://kfitz.info/homeward-bound-at-least-sorta/ Today’s our last full day in Dublin; tomorrow morning, we head to the airport to fly to Newark, where I’ll then kill three hours before hopping on another plane to Los Angeles for the MLA.
There are all kinds of ironies — or, perhaps,... 2011-01-01T10:41:05Z https://kfitz.info/twenty-eleven/ This is the first promptless morning I’ve spent in a month, and the freedom is almost a bit vertiginous. I sat here for an hour or so starting at the add-new-post window, wondering what on earth to write about.
And then I spent an hour or... 2010-12-31T06:38:23Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-31-core-story/ At last, today’s final prompt:

Core story. What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world? (Bonus: Consider your reflections from this month. Look through them to discover a thread you may not... 2010-12-30T07:29:23Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-30-gift/ Today’s prompt:

Gift. This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What’s the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?

I’ve been given some pretty great gifts this year... 2010-12-29T05:59:00Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-29-defining-moment/ Today’s prompt:

Defining moment. Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

So many possibilities here, but I feel as though I’ve already described most of them... 2010-12-29T05:24:27Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-28-achieve/ Yesterday’s prompt:

Achieve. What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do,... 2010-12-28T05:01:34Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-scholarly-press-the-manual-of-style-and-intellectual-property/ Stuart Shieber posted an interesting and troubling analysis a few days ago of the recommendations of the Chicago Manual of Style with... 2010-12-28T03:26:38Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-27-ordinary-joy/ Today’s prompt:

Ordinary joy. Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?

Perhaps it’s just proximity, but I can’t help... 2010-12-27T02:56:31Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-26-soul-food/ Today’s — hey, it may be the 27th where I am, but it’s still the 26th according to the server — prompt:

Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your... 2010-12-26T10:28:01Z https://kfitz.info/soundtrack/ One of the things that I find fascinating just about every time I travel around Europe is the music playing in the background in restaurants, bars, hotels, stores, and so forth. It’s not terribly surprising that a bunch of it is American pop... 2010-12-25T12:27:45Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-25-photo/ Today’s prompt:

Photo – a present to yourself. Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand... 2010-12-25T05:39:17Z https://kfitz.info/christmas-eve-in-prague/ The Christmas market in Old Town Square has a smallish stage set up at one end; this stage is used throughout the Christmas season for performances of various kinds. Four years ago, when R. and I spent our first Christmas in Prague, we caught 2010-12-24T13:36:24Z https://kfitz.info/among-the-things-we-saw-last-night/ A... 2010-12-24T04:33:02Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-24-everythings-ok/ Today’s prompt:

Everything’s OK. What was the best moment that could serve as proof that everything is going to be alright? And how will you incorporate that discovery into the year ahead?

It’s almost as... 2010-12-23T05:31:29Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-23-new-name/ Today’s (yay!) prompt:

New name. Let’s meet again, for the first time. If you could introduce yourself to strangers by another name for just one day, what would it be and why?

This one’s short but sweet: I... 2010-12-23T04:46:27Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-22-travel/ Prompt the 22nd:

Travel. How did you travel in 2010? How and/or where would you like to travel next year?

Ooh, this is timely. I’m writing from the executive lounge of the Prague Marriott hotel, where R.... 2010-12-23T04:02:46Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-21-future-self/ Prompt the 21st:

Future self. Imagine yourself five years from now. What advice would you give your current self for the year ahead? (Bonus: Write a note to yourself 10 years ago. What would you tell your younger... 2010-12-22T07:32:44Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-20-beyond-avoidance/ Prompt the 20th:

Beyond avoidance. What should you have done this year but didn’t because you were too scared, worried, unsure, busy or otherwise deterred from doing? (Bonus: Will you do it?)

Write. Write.... 2010-12-21T09:03:29Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-19-healing/ Another overdue prompt:

Healing. What healed you this year? Was it sudden, or a drip-by-drip evolution? How would you like to be healed in 2011?

Once again, the newageyness of the prompt’s vocabulary has... 2010-12-21T03:09:15Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-18-try/ Blah blah behind, catching up, etc. A prompt from a few days back:

Try. What do you want to try next year? Is there something you wanted to try in 2010? What happened when you did / didn’t go for it?

I am... 2010-12-21T01:41:00Z https://kfitz.info/a-brief-technical-aside/ Just to note that in the, what, four or five days since I’ve added the ReCaptcha plugin here, I’ve received a total of seven spam comments. In a similar span of time before adding the ReCaptchas, I’d have had upwards of 1500 — almost all of them... 2010-12-19T01:26:05Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-17-lesson-learned/ Today’s Yesterday’s prompt:

Lesson learned. What was the best thing you learned about yourself this past year? And how will you apply that lesson going... 2010-12-17T15:17:39Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-16-friendship/ Yesterday’s prompt:

Friendship. How has a friend changed you or your perspective on the world this year? Was this change gradual, or a sudden burst?

This one’s short but sweet: R. and I just celebrated our... 2010-12-15T12:09:03Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-15-5-minutes/ Today’s prompt:

5 minutes. Imagine you will completely lose your memory of 2010 in five minutes. Set an alarm for five minutes and capture the things you most want to remember about 2010.

I want to remember... 2010-12-15T11:46:10Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-14-appreciate/ Yesterday’s prompt:

Appreciate. What’s the one thing you have come to appreciate most in the past year? How do you express gratitude for it?

My initial response to this prompt, like several of the preceding... 2010-12-14T00:09:00Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-13-action/ Today’s prompt:

Action. When it comes to aspirations, its not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. What’s your next step?

This sense of moving from idea to action is very much what’s behind the... 2010-12-13T11:50:15Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-12-body-integration/ Yesterday’s prompt:

Body integration. This year, when did you feel the most integrated with your body? Did you have a moment where there wasn’t mind and body, but simply a cohesive YOU, alive and... 2010-12-12T11:12:42Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-11-11-things/ I started this post yesterday, hoping to get myself back on schedule, but a visit to some relatives intervened and kept me from finishing it. In any case, yesterday’s prompt:

11 Things. What are 11 things your life doesn’t need... 2010-12-11T10:59:50Z https://kfitz.info/undergrads-reimagine-the-humanities/ Last month, I was honored to be a keynote speaker at Re:Humanities, an undergraduate conference on digital media in academia organized by students at Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges. It... 2010-12-11T10:03:27Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-10-wisdom/ Behind again, not because I was so horribly busy yesterday (though I was busy enough), but because no matter how much I pondered this question, I wasn’t able to come up with an answer that I found satisfying. Yesterday’s... 2010-12-09T12:38:13Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-9-party/ Today’s prompt:

Prompt: Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans.

I start, as always, with the disclaimers: I’m frankly not... 2010-12-08T13:32:03Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-8-beautifully-different/ I’m actually quite pleased that this is a second post for today, because I’d hate to have to contemplate it by itself. Interestingly, though I’ve subscribed to the email list for the reverb10 prompts, and each prompt has dutifully landed in my... 2010-12-08T12:58:01Z https://kfitz.info/reverb-day-7-community/ I’ve fallen a day behind here, for reasons I’ll write about in a minute. For now, yesterday’s prompt:

Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create... 2010-12-06T10:14:10Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-6-make/ Today’s prompt:

Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

What’s the last thing I made? Why, thank you... 2010-12-05T15:41:03Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-5-let-go/ Today’s prompt:

Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

This one’s complex. A little bit hard to write about in a public venue, in fact. Partially because the letting-go wasn’t entirely... 2010-12-04T12:36:37Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-4-wonder/ Today’s prompt:

Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

Okay, we’ve officially hit the point at which I start complaining about the awful gooshiness of these... 2010-12-03T22:12:47Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-3-moment/ Today’s prompt:

Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

I’m running more than a little behind today, having... 2010-12-02T12:12:19Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10-day-2-what-gets-in-the-way/ Today’s prompt:

Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

My initial, flippant answer to this question was “Everything!” Every aspect of... 2010-12-01T12:36:28Z https://kfitz.info/one-word/ This I’ll say at the outset: it is far harder for me to come up with one word than it is for me to come up with a thousand.
Write about my year and how it’s gone? Absolutely. Reflect on its dominant trends and emotions, and think about how... 2010-12-01T12:06:58Z https://kfitz.info/reverb10/ In the hopes of getting things around here moving a bit, of breaking up the logjam in my head, and of figuring out what’s ahead of me as I move on to new projects in the second half of my sabbatical, I’ve taken the utterly unlike me step of... 2010-11-23T11:00:43Z https://kfitz.info/relaunching-the-anxiety-of-obsolescence/ Back in 2006, a few months before the release of my first book, The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television, I launched a small WordPress-driven site to promote... 2010-11-22T11:26:32Z https://kfitz.info/the-future-of-the-university-press/ My friends at MPublishing have released a new issue of the Journal of Electronic Publishing, guest edited by the director of the University... 2010-10-25T11:19:43Z https://kfitz.info/peer-to-peer-review-and-its-aporias/ Over the course of last week, a huge number of friends and colleagues of mine posted links and notes on Twitter and around the blogosphere about Mike O’Malley’s post on The Aporetic about crowdsourcing peer... 2010-10-23T12:37:08Z https://kfitz.info/the-stein-taxonomy/ Bob Stein, founder of the Institute for the Future of the Book and key supporter of MediaCommons, has posted a provocation entitled 2010-10-23T09:26:26Z https://kfitz.info/ir-11-3/ Keynote
Nancy Baym, “This Song’s for You”
— changes in music/entertainment industries being produced by internet visible in story of Nancy on her back porch on a Sunday morning requesting a song from an obscure Swedish musician busking... 2010-10-22T19:44:50Z https://kfitz.info/ir-11-2/ Utterly fell down on the notetaking/blogging job today, due to early frustration when the paper I’d shown up early for wasn’t presented, and then a long mid-day exhausted slump, and then desperate trying to marshal energy and focus for my own... 2010-10-21T11:08:38Z https://kfitz.info/ir-11-1-4/ Session 4
Networking and Social Sites
Robert Joseph Bodle, “Opening the social media ecosystem: the tenuous nature of interoperability, crossposting, and sharing among dominant social media sites, services and devices”
— APIs as... 2010-10-21T09:16:32Z https://kfitz.info/ir-11-1-3/ A first in my conference-going experience: the first keynoter is sick in bed (get well, Jon Bing!), so the lecture hall is inhabited by sparse groups of folks chatting, Twitterfall on the screen. The break is not unwelcome, though for me it falls... 2010-10-21T07:45:49Z https://kfitz.info/ir-11-1-2/ Session 2: CMS Futures: The Way Ahead for Course Management Systems
Alex Halavais, Jeremy Hunsinger, Ted Coopman, Helen Keegan
— trying to avoid just bitching about Blackboard
— certain benefits of a well-designed CMS:... 2010-10-21T07:04:52Z https://kfitz.info/ir-11-1-1/ Please note that what follows are my notes, taken as I listen. Anything weird in here should be assumed to be my fault, and not that of the speakers.
Session 1: Identity: Finding Your Form Online
Kelly Bergstrom, “A Troll by Any... 2010-10-21T06:29:26Z https://kfitz.info/ir11/ Today’s the first day of the eleventh annual conference of the Association of Internet Research, and the sixth of which I’ve attended. It’s lovely catching up with some of the folks I often see at these conferences, but also great getting to meet... 2010-10-20T09:30:27Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-impossibility-of-naive-reading/ The recent New York Times Opinionator column by Robert Pippin, “In Defense of Naive Reading”, has had me thinking for the last week or so. I knew I... 2010-10-08T16:06:03Z https://kfitz.info/ouch-2/ Critical Theory. 2010-09-30T13:34:23Z https://kfitz.info/upcoming-dates/ I’ve got a bunch of talks and conferences and other things scheduled in the coming weeks:

October 1: Archiving Social Media, Center for History and New Media
October 14, 6.00 pm:... 2010-09-09T14:24:57Z https://kfitz.info/the-new-everyday-notes-lists-and-everyday-inscriptions/ [Crossposted from MediaCommons.]
We’re thrilled today to announce the relaunch of 2010-09-09T10:14:16Z https://kfitz.info/talk-at-the-hemispheric-institute/ One of the first things I’m doing here at NYU, now that classes have started up and things are underway, is giving a talk at the Hemispheric Institute, as part of our celebration of the launch of a new MediaCommons project, The New Everyday (about... 2010-08-31T14:44:40Z https://kfitz.info/to-read-how-not-to-run-a-university-press/ In the category of things that I used to post to the blog that now land on Twitter instead: the link. In an effort to maintain a better archive for myself, I’m experimenting with moving these things back here again.
Today, Chris Kelty’s... 2010-08-31T11:46:43Z https://kfitz.info/past-and-future/ For the next few days, my “Five Years Ago” block at right will be filled with post-Katrina posts. After all these years with the blog, it still feels very odd to have such a record of past trauma, the detail of what was going through my head in... 2010-08-24T11:02:39Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-open-review-and-the-new-york-times/ [Crossposted from MediaCommons.]
The 2010-08-23T12:22:43Z https://kfitz.info/this-year/ Where to begin? I’ve spent the last month getting myself moved across the country and settled into a small studio in New York, where I’m spending a year on sabbatical as a Visiting Scholar in the Department... 2010-08-04T18:09:39Z https://kfitz.info/justice/ REMEDIES
Plaintiffs have demonstrated by overwhelming evidence that Proposition 8 violates their due process and equal protection rights and that they will continue to suffer these constitutional violations until state... 2010-08-03T19:43:29Z https://kfitz.info/anthologize/ I’m way more pressed for time than I’d like right now, finishing up a bajillion details involved in moving myself and a subset of my stuff across the country for the next ten months, but I want to be sure to take a second to note the absolute... 2010-07-27T13:28:25Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-shakespeare-quarterly-and-open-review/ [Crossposted from MediaCommons.]
Today’s Chronicle of Higher Education brings us a wonderful 2010-07-26T15:19:36Z https://kfitz.info/fair-use/ The Library of Congress has just this morning issued its statement of exemptions to the portions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that forbid the circumvention of DRM and other technological... 2010-07-20T12:59:21Z https://kfitz.info/where-am-i-going-where-have-i-been/ So I’ve managed to survive all of the bullet points on my insane itinerary of June and July travel, and am happily ensconced once again in my very own home, madly catching up on work items that I... 2010-07-08T03:55:15Z https://kfitz.info/five-years-post-tribble/ My “five years ago today” feature reminds me that the aforementioned time has spanned since the uproar over Ivan Tribble’s infamous screed hit the Chron (now available 2010-07-05T13:31:51Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-road-again-and-again/ It’s been an eventful couple of months. A travelful couple of months, even. If you were able to see my Google Calendar, you’d see a whole lot of teal striping on it; that’s my travel calendar, which reminds me that since the beginning of May, I’ve... 2010-06-23T14:30:08Z https://kfitz.info/phi-beta-kappa-address-keep-in-touch/ As the 2009-10 president of Pomona College’s Phi Beta Kappa chapter, I was supposed to deliver the address at our commencement weekend initiation ceremony. I accidentally double-booked myself, though, by agreeing to speak at a one-day conference... 2010-06-21T17:43:48Z https://kfitz.info/what-a-press-can-add-in-the-age-of-diy-publishing/ What follows is a rough transcript of the talk I gave this past weekend at the annual meeting of the Association of American University Presses. The panel was organized and chaired by Eric Zinner, Assistant Director and Editor-In-Chief at New York... 2010-05-28T15:59:55Z https://kfitz.info/open-access-publishing-and-scholarly-values-part-three/ There’s a fascinating exchange around open access publishing and the reasons scholars might resist it developing right now, beginning with Dan Cohen’s post, 2010-05-18T14:33:39Z https://kfitz.info/a-little-self-promotion/ As I’ve mentioned around here a few times, I’ve been in the midst of a review this spring, and now that the results are official, I can finally say out loud and in public that, as of July 1, I’ll be a full professor.
Needless to say, I’m... 2010-05-10T19:32:39Z https://kfitz.info/time-will-tell-but-epistemology-wont-the-richard-rorty-archive/ My friend Liz Losh has let me know that this Friday UC Irvine is hosting a conference to celebrate the addition of Richard Rorty’s papers to the Critical... 2010-04-15T19:10:01Z https://kfitz.info/this-one-goes-to-11/ As I’ve mentioned around here before, I’m in the midst of a promotion review, and am in the anxious waiting phase: everything I can do is done, things are taking place behind the scenes, and I’m trying not to think about it. I was having a... 2010-04-13T14:30:26Z https://kfitz.info/more-gloating-about-my-ipad/ Finding myself yesterday felled by some nasty bug or another, I wound up spending the day in bed. And I can now say with certainty that the iPad is the best device yet invented for the lying-around-sick day.
I had a range of video options... 2010-04-08T16:59:50Z https://kfitz.info/well-be-right-back-after-these-messages/ The recent flurry of posting around here — not to mention actual progress on my revisions — has meant that I’ve got a couple of things I’ve let slide, one of which is now officially several weeks overdue. Guilt has gotten the better of me, so I’m... 2010-04-07T12:51:45Z https://kfitz.info/revisions-on-multimodal-scholarship/ I’m finishing up the revisions on chapter 2 today, and have been thinking about the section “from text to… something more.” I’ve expanded my thinking about multimodal scholarship a bit, including the addition of these... 2010-04-06T12:42:53Z https://kfitz.info/the-late-age-of-print-audio-edition/ From Ted Striphas comes news of an exciting project: the crowd-sourced production of a text-to-speech audiobook version of his fantastic book,... 2010-04-05T13:39:24Z https://kfitz.info/preliminary-thoughts-on-the-ipad/ So I did, after a minor delay (produced by the Apple truck not showing up to the bookstore on time), get my hands on my new iPad. I spent most of day 1 just getting it set up, figuring out which of my iPhone apps I wanted to put on the iPad, what... 2010-04-02T14:29:19Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-cant-wait/ So yes, I did pre-order an iPad, or actually pre-reserve one with my college’s bookstore. And I intend to pick it up first thing tomorrow morning. And I absolutely cannot wait.
This is not a cool thing to admit in at least some of... 2010-04-01T12:14:26Z https://kfitz.info/revisions/ I’m vastly behind schedule, I’m afraid, but am at last pressing forward with revisions on Planned Obsolescence for the print edition. One of the things... 2010-03-31T23:24:00Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-just-to-note/ That after yesterday’s funk, today has been an aw, shucks kinda day.
I still didn’t get the things I was after. But I did get told that I should have gotten them.
Stupid... 2010-03-30T12:18:57Z https://kfitz.info/back-at-it-2/ I’m deep in a funk this morning, and am having a hard time yanking myself out of it.[1] So I’ve decided to overcompensate by writing a bit about something that actually is going well:... 2010-03-29T11:48:02Z https://kfitz.info/the-new-everyday/ I’ve just posted the following announcement at MediaCommons:

We are thrilled today to unveil The New Everyday, an experiment in “middle-state... 2010-03-23T20:50:56Z https://kfitz.info/two-bits-of-recent-work/ I’ve got that cringing feeling that I haven’t been getting enough work done lately, but I at least have a few links to remind myself otherwise.
First, both the slides and the... 2010-03-19T14:42:57Z https://kfitz.info/things-go-awry/ Yesterday’s Day of Digital Humanities experience didn’t exactly turn out as I’d hoped, as I found myself utterly without connectivity all day. Not only does the SCMS... 2010-03-18T13:15:02Z https://kfitz.info/day-of-digital-humanities/ A quick note: I’m (at least in theory) participating in today’s Day of Digital Humanities festivities. “In theory,” alas, because the... 2010-03-17T16:58:10Z https://kfitz.info/the-future-of-publishing/ A promo video produced by DK Books for a Penguin sales conference has gone something like viral in the last two days, getting a lot of attention in my circles. In case you haven’t seen it: 2010-03-15T18:40:09Z https://kfitz.info/shakespeare-quarterly-open-review/ Yet another month-long absence. At least this time I have a major project to show for it!
It’s perhaps a tiny bit ironic to be launching this particular new MediaCommons Press project on the Ides of March, but nonetheless: we at... 2010-02-13T18:36:21Z https://kfitz.info/my-secret-life/ Oh, hi! I’m sure it appears that I’ve forgotten about this blog thing. Really, it’s less that I’ve forgotten than that my attention has gotten fragmented in a million different directions, both work-wise and internet-communication-wise. Much of... 2010-01-26T12:08:18Z https://kfitz.info/even-nearer/ This happened to me again last night. Same intersection, except from the opposite direction; I was turning left across traffic into the side street that leads to my neighborhood, gauging whether the gap between the... 2010-01-14T19:36:25Z https://kfitz.info/the-stakes-of-disciplinarity/ There’s been a lot of discussion in various internet settings over the last week, some of it pretty contentious, about the definition of the Digital Humanities and its relationship to digital media studies. (See, for instance, the debate started... 2009-12-30T17:45:10Z https://kfitz.info/the-legacy-of-david-foster-wallace/ This morning, awfully bright and awfully early, I participated in a fantastic roundtable on the legacy of David Foster Wallace, which was quite well-attended, given the early hour and that it was the last day of the conference, and which produced... 2009-12-29T18:04:35Z https://kfitz.info/mla09/ I’ve been busy tweeting up a storm at the MLA this year (or what amounts to a storm for me, anyhow), but haven’t been compelled to write a full blog post as yet — a situation that got called out when a pal of... 2009-12-20T14:06:27Z https://kfitz.info/not-exactly-the-tip-of-the-tongue/ You know how sometimes you’re trying to think of a name or a word and it just won’t come, no matter how hard you try, but later that day while you’re chopping onions or taking a shower you’re all suddenly “Judi Dench! Dude, it was Judi Dench!” out... 2009-12-16T16:51:00Z https://kfitz.info/peer-revew-as-dialogu/ One of the most exciting parts of Planned Obsolescence for me has of course been the open review process we’ve been conducting at 2009-12-10T15:52:17Z https://kfitz.info/umhastac-publication-prize/ Over the course of the last year I’ve been very excitedly following the developments at the University of Michigan Press, as the press became an academic unit... 2009-12-04T13:20:12Z https://kfitz.info/gee-time-warner-thanks-for-asking/ I’ve just gotten the following email message from my friends at Time Warner Cable:

We’ve got a hard choice…
Roll Over or Get Tough?
No one likes paying more. You don’t. We... 2009-12-01T13:04:14Z https://kfitz.info/december/ So up inbetween the droning “ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod” of the last couple of weeks of the semester, I’ve got some pretty exciting stuff going on. First, I’ve gotten the outside reviews (old-school style) of 2009-11-24T11:34:32Z https://kfitz.info/planned-obsolescence-updates/ There’ve been a few updates on Planned Obsolescence in the last couple of days, most notably that the text is now running in 2009-11-20T18:27:05Z https://kfitz.info/apparently-i-dont-teach-math/ I just want to note that not one of the 46 students I’m teaching this semester pointed out that the percentages I listed on my syllabi, detailing the amount that each assignment would count toward their final grades, don’t add up to 100.... 2009-11-19T15:28:59Z https://kfitz.info/updates-to-come-i-swear/ I’m not sure where October went, much less the first two-thirds of November. Actually, I do know where it went: to three conferences in five weeks, with an added surprise family trip in the mix as well.
There’s lots of stuff going on,... 2009-10-20T21:09:08Z https://kfitz.info/though-i-wish-theyd-named-it-something-else/ I will begrudgingly admit that I’m intrigued by the Nook, Barnes & Noble’s new device, previewed today, which seeks to be an Unnamed... 2009-10-10T15:00:56Z https://kfitz.info/ir10-peer-to-peer-review/ I’m going to embed my slides from today’s talk here, but you’re probably better off actually looking at them on SlideShare, as you can see the notes that way… 2009-10-10T14:36:53Z https://kfitz.info/and-then-five-years-later/ Among other things this weekend, I’m re-reading Fanon for Monday’s class. Fascinating to see today’s five years ago post pop up. 2009-10-08T13:05:59Z https://kfitz.info/ir10/ I’m in Milwaukee this week at the tenth meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers. The good news is that the wireless is strong, ubiquitous, and free. The bad news is that we seem to have broken Twitter.
I’ll hope to post from here... 2009-10-05T13:39:20Z https://kfitz.info/ftc-blog-regulator/ Um, yeah. I’m sure that’ll work.
[11.08 am, edited to add: Ed Champion has published a very interesting 2009-10-04T14:08:53Z https://kfitz.info/the-rise-of-the-landscape-web/ I’ve noticed over the last couple of months that several of my favorite websites were becoming, well, wide. It’s become increasingly common, in fact, for me to find myself scrolling sideways as well as up-and-down when out there browsing, and... 2009-10-01T15:39:11Z https://kfitz.info/the-waiting/ You know what they say about it.
Google Wave went into a wider preview release yesterday, as the first of what was supposed to be 100,000 invites were sent out to folks who’d agreed to beta-test for the... 2009-09-30T20:54:21Z https://kfitz.info/planned-obsolescence-community-blog/ (cross-posted, with some edits for clarity, from the other Planned Obsolescence)
So I left a post on the 2009-09-30T13:10:39Z https://kfitz.info/digital-campus/ The newest episode of the Digital Campus podcast, #44 – Unsettled, is up, and I’m thrilled that it mentions 2009-09-29T11:38:31Z https://kfitz.info/a-very-brief-note-to-tenured-radical/ You go! 2009-09-28T10:35:51Z https://kfitz.info/planned-obsolescence-now-online/ Today’s the day: the project that I’ve been working on for the last year and a half is at last live and open for your reading and commenting pleasure. 2009-09-27T13:43:39Z https://kfitz.info/somethings-not-right/ I went to bed last night about 11.30, and got up this morning around 7.30. And inbetween, didn’t receive a single piece of email. For some reason, I’m having a hard time accepting this — nothing from my listservs, nothing from my students, nothing... 2009-09-23T11:58:08Z https://kfitz.info/things-i-love-about-things/ I’ve been using Things as my task manager for some time now, both on my desktop and on my iPhone, and have absolutely loved it. It’s clean, super-functional, and generally trouble-free.
But then... 2009-09-20T18:01:47Z https://kfitz.info/teaching-when-you-think-you-have-the-flu/ After I was told last Sunday that it was likely I had picked up H1N1, whether on top of a case of bronchitis or masquerading as a case of bronchitis, I took myself back to bed with my laptop and started emailing.
Fortunately, we’d had a... 2009-09-19T19:21:13Z https://kfitz.info/the-flu-and-you/ This semester has thus far not gone according to plan. We’re on the cusp of what is technically the fourth week of classes, and I’ve been in the classroom precisely twice: once on Wednesday, September 2, for the first day introduction and syllabus... 2009-09-07T12:21:31Z https://kfitz.info/ick-2/ The semester started here just shy of a week ago, but because my classes fall on Monday and Wednesday, today’s my first real day of teaching. Labor Day. Usually (where “usually” = about 4 out of 10 years) classes here start the day after Labor... 2009-08-28T15:02:20Z https://kfitz.info/senioring-a-young-field/ In the coming year, I’m going to be going up for a promotion review, and along with all the other attendant stress work, I need to develop a list of potential outside reviewers for my case. (I’m... 2009-08-24T04:16:44Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-run/ The good news is that I’ve gotten my exercise today: after dragging the suitcase to the train station, and up and down the various flights of stairs between its entrance and the entrance to the airport, I was sent by the monitors to the far end of... 2009-08-18T09:21:31Z https://kfitz.info/the-opposition/ I’m standing in the airport, after the usual delirious experience of waking up at 3.30 am to be ready for my 4.30 am cab. The flight I’m about to board, as usual, will take me to Houston, but then from there, I’m on first to Amsterdam and then to... 2009-08-14T14:56:46Z https://kfitz.info/um-is-this-thing-on-2/ Oh. Hi there! Gee, um… long time no see.
So I’ve just five minutes ago submitted the book manuscript that I’ve been working on for the last bit. (And just FYI, the deadline was today. And I... 2009-07-20T13:16:29Z https://kfitz.info/the-cost-of-peer-review-and-the-future-of-scholarly-publishing/ As is being discussed a good bit around the academic blogo-/twittersphere this morning, Jennifer Howard reports in today’s Chronicle of Higher Education on a new report soon to be... 2009-07-19T14:00:18Z https://kfitz.info/okay-att-youre-on-notice/ Clicking through my Google Reader a few minutes ago, I read a TechCrunch article that Meg had shared, which details the increasingly egregious service... 2009-07-17T21:28:54Z https://kfitz.info/rip-walter-cronkite/ One of the best things I’ve been asked to do at Pomona College so far was getting to introduce Walter Cronkite before his commencement address a few years ago. He was extraordinarily kind and gentle when I met him, beginning to slow down a bit... 2009-07-17T12:15:38Z https://kfitz.info/on-teaching-infinite-jest/ The following was originally published as a guest post on Infinite Summer.
As you may have seen mentioned in a countdown post... 2009-07-16T13:54:44Z https://kfitz.info/obsolete/ The newest issue of M/C, the Journal of Media and Culture, is out, and it’s focused on a topic near and dear to my heart: the Obsolete. There’s an excellent cluster of articles... 2009-07-16T13:07:37Z https://kfitz.info/please-reply-this-email/ I’m not sure exactly why I find this as funny as I do. The sad thing, however, is that I’m quite sure someone’s going to fall for it.

From: System Administrator [email address redacted, but trust me when I say it’s not my... 2009-07-09T12:09:36Z https://kfitz.info/against-anonymity/ I’m a bit off the grid for the next several days, but wanted quickly to draw your attention to an article by Jeffrey Di Leo published a couple of days ago at Inside Higher Ed, entitled 2009-07-07T11:46:47Z https://kfitz.info/blegging-preservation/ I’m deep in the thick of the chapter I’m writing on issues of preservation for digital scholarship, and am feeling fairly acutely the extent to which these issues have not been on my radar before now, so I need to ask for your help, particularly... 2009-07-03T14:22:31Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-want-google-wave-now-please/ Because I had a rather amazing exchange about the future of open access publishing via Twitter last night with Brett Bobley (@brettbobley), Dan Cohen ( 2009-06-25T14:25:26Z https://kfitz.info/checked-your-privacy-settings-lately/ Otherwise, anyone might know what’s on your mind. 2009-06-24T11:34:14Z https://kfitz.info/the-hybrid-future-of-the-university-press/ Yesterday was the first full day of the Digital Humanities 2009 conference, the first iteration of which I’ve gotten to attend. So far the conference has been fantastic — and it promises to get even... 2009-06-21T17:29:11Z https://kfitz.info/and-then-this-week/ Well, I suppose that three out of six isn’t half bad:

Finish book manuscript review for press.
Do reading & write letter for tenure... 2009-06-15T13:11:53Z https://kfitz.info/this-week-2/ I have a few things that I need to accomplish:

Finish book manuscript review for press.
Do reading & write letter for tenure review.
Prepare two conference presentations for next week.
Outline fall... 2009-06-14T13:00:22Z https://kfitz.info/ambivalence/ The ironies continue to pile up: five years ago today, I was moving office, out of a dank, lonely basement and into my newly renovated smallish (by the building’s standards, which are vastly out of keeping with the... 2009-05-31T17:36:39Z https://kfitz.info/dr-george-tiller-rip/ Thankfully, other folks are doing a much 2009-05-30T23:57:08Z https://kfitz.info/five-years-later/ I do not know whether to be amused by the irony or horrified by the passage of time. 2009-05-24T09:26:28Z https://kfitz.info/homeward-bound/ Soon, at least.
It’s been a heck of a week: long flight into Boston on Monday, followed by looooong cab ride out to Norwood just after midnight Tuesday morning; phenomenal symposium on 2009-05-22T12:48:52Z https://kfitz.info/must-read-hastacmla-rethinking-tenure-guidelines/ Cathy Davidson has an excellent post up at HASTAC thinking about the meaning of tenure and ways of imagining valid tenure standards for an increasingly interdisciplinary future. Along the way, she... 2009-05-19T10:11:56Z https://kfitz.info/the-future-of-everything/ I’m in the Boston area this week, speaking at a couple of conferences, the first of which is starting as I type — a meeting sponsored by AcademicCommons, a special interest group of NERCOMP (the Northeast Regional Computing Program), entitled “The... 2009-05-12T23:43:56Z https://kfitz.info/heres-hoping-youre-not-on-the-plane-yet/ Just now via email:

Dear Colleagues:
It is with a very great regret that we are announcing the cancellation of the SCMS conference in Tokyo scheduled for May 21-24, 2009.
Late last week we learned that the... 2009-05-12T20:39:10Z https://kfitz.info/blog-based-peer-review/ Noah Wardrip-Fruin has posted a thoughtful reconsideration of the experience of putting the manuscript of his forthcoming book, 2009-05-11T17:55:09Z https://kfitz.info/not-schadenfreude-i-swear/ Add this to the list of difficulties presented by holding SCMS in Tokyo this year: the government apparently asked the university at which the conference is being held to cancel [edited to add: due to H1N1, of course!], but the university... 2009-05-11T11:01:18Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-work-2/ I began the summer’s work yesterday morning by starting a read-through of the manuscript thus far, and was thrilled to discover that the introduction is not as far off as I thought it was. It needs a bit of tinkering, but a small enough bit that... 2009-05-06T11:08:04Z https://kfitz.info/requiescat-in-pace/ Today is the last day of what has been alternately a difficult and an exhilarating semester. Honestly, it’s the first semester in I can’t remember how long that I’ve been sorry to see end, the first semester in several years in which I’ve actually... 2009-04-24T12:31:37Z https://kfitz.info/mit6/ I’m at MiT6 this weekend, which is starting up as I type; if you’re here, be sure to say hello. I’ll post more from the conference as things unfold. 2009-04-20T19:09:40Z https://kfitz.info/the-wages-of-mouthing-off/ Actually, I mean that in a more positive sense than it no doubt sounds. I tried a few other variants (Mouthing Off Pays Off!) but none were quite as satisfying. And it’s possible that the ambiguity is intentional.
In any event, the payoff:... 2009-04-19T12:28:14Z https://kfitz.info/not-dead-yet/ Just utterly tyrannized by the to do list. Once the grading and the thesis drafts are out of the way, there are classes to prepare for, a grant proposal to be written, and a 15-minute presentation to be carved out of a 40-page chapter. Plus a... 2009-03-23T10:50:12Z https://kfitz.info/university-press-university-library-the-future-of-university-publishing/ crossposted from MediaCommons:
The Chronicle of Higher Education announced today that... 2009-03-20T14:33:29Z https://kfitz.info/getting-serious-about-the-online-part-of-research-online/ crossposted from MediaCommons:
Today’s Inside Higher Ed features an opinion piece by 2009-02-25T15:35:32Z https://kfitz.info/digital-humanities-roundup/ I’ve just posted on MediaCommons in order to point to Lisa Spiro’s fantastic post rounding up and reflecting on important 2009-02-24T12:33:03Z https://kfitz.info/teaching-carnival-32/ I’m deep in the thick of the best semester I’ve had in several years, so it’s taken some doing to pry me away from teaching in order to see what teaching-related stuff is going on out there in the blogosphere. Having spent some time poking around,... 2009-02-22T19:04:48Z https://kfitz.info/teaching-carnival-tk/ I’m ostensibly up tomorrow as host of Teaching Carnival 3.2, but poking through Delicious and Technorati is turning up little in the way of submitted... 2009-02-16T14:39:20Z https://kfitz.info/my-new-tos/ There’s a fantastic series of tweets in my Twitter stream right now, from folks commenting on the new Facebook terms of... 2009-02-13T15:10:46Z https://kfitz.info/media-studies-and-literary-studies/ I was somewhat bemused to see the white paper recently released by the MLA, reporting to the Teagle Foundation on the goals and objectives of the undergraduate major in language and... 2009-02-10T15:56:21Z https://kfitz.info/grrrr-2/ If you’ve bothered coming round these parts lately, you’ll have noticed that things were loading excruciatingly slowly, a problem for which I was starting to blame my hosting provider. But this morning, for whatever reason, I decided to take a... 2009-02-08T20:11:14Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-blogs/ I was poking around the web a little while ago, pondering this blog — why I haven’t been posting much in recent months, wishing I were posting more, thinking about what I’d post if I were to post, and so forth — and found myself fixated on the... 2009-02-06T16:45:07Z https://kfitz.info/digital-peer-review/ cross-posted at MediaCommons
In the last few days, I’ve been running across a bunch of activity around the question of peer review in digital publishing, thinking that’s... 2009-01-31T14:07:32Z https://kfitz.info/more-complaints/ Remember this kid? She, or someone like her, is at it again. Twice in the last two weeks I’ve had my Apple ID “disabled for security reasons,” which happens when someone tries to log into... 2009-01-29T15:36:57Z https://kfitz.info/commenting-policy/ I’m getting loads of comment spam of late that is not bot-produced, but rather manually added, designed to generate google juice for some commercial site by taking advantage of the misimpression that this blog is a 2009-01-27T12:26:52Z https://kfitz.info/cfp-mla-2009/ The following is a call for papers for a session sponsored by the MLA’s Media and Literature Discussion Group, to be held at the 2009 convention in Philadelphia.
—
Media Studies and the Digital Scholarly Present
Not the future... 2009-01-26T14:20:29Z https://kfitz.info/commentpress-2/ For all the folks who’ve been asking: CommentPress is back. I also have it on good authority that a major update will be coming soon. 2009-01-22T15:27:49Z https://kfitz.info/while-im-at-it/ Sneak a peek at what I apparently started thinking seriously about five years ago today. I’m not sure whether I should be amazed by the prescience of that post, or appalled that I haven’t gotten... 2009-01-22T15:25:58Z https://kfitz.info/media-in-transition/ Incidentally, I just found out that my proposal for MiT6 was accepted; I’ll hope to see some of you there in April. 2009-01-22T15:12:24Z https://kfitz.info/campus-based-publishing/ The SPARC Campus-Based Publishing Resource Center has officially launched today, along with the guide to creating campus partnerships... 2009-01-21T11:48:43Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-2/ Yesterday, it probably goes without saying, was a big day, made so not only by the inauguration but also by the first day of classes of the new semester. And even more so, for me personally, by the long-awaited relaunch of 2009-01-19T12:51:06Z https://kfitz.info/campus-collaborations/ I’m in the midst of a section in the project in which I’m discussing the potential for strategic collaborations within universities around the issue of digital scholarly publishing. Among such collaborations, I point to a number between university... 2009-01-05T13:22:27Z https://kfitz.info/edit-scrivenings/ I finally got a chance at the very end of the MLA to sit down for coffee with Dave Parry, whom I’d tried but failed to catch up with at several earlier moments of the conference. Among the... 2009-01-04T14:56:22Z https://kfitz.info/probably-unrelated-observations/ 1. I am writing my way into new holes far faster than I can do the research and reading necessary to fill them. On the one hand, this is great; I’m clearly making progress on the chapter. And what I need to be doing right now, more than anything... 2009-01-02T15:02:29Z https://kfitz.info/retreat-advance/ How else to put this: I survived the holidays, survived the MLA, rang in the new year. I’m back home now, happily ensconced at my desk, hoping to carve a small dent into the massive pile of stuff that really has to get done before the new semester... 2008-12-21T19:38:35Z https://kfitz.info/more-fun-with-software/ Having blogged my excitement about the public beta of DEVONthink 2, and trying to get myself re-organized for my winter break projects, I spent much of yesterday poking around in my various databases, thinking about how... 2008-12-20T11:53:32Z https://kfitz.info/transitions/ I’m finding it extremely difficult this year to make the shift out of the fall semester and into everything I need to focus on over the winter break. Probably I should cut myself some slack about this, given that I filed my last grade for the... 2008-12-19T20:23:52Z https://kfitz.info/devonthink/ I’ve been using DEVONthink for a while now as a means of keeping my research notes organized, and so was happy (much as was 2008-12-14T16:51:35Z https://kfitz.info/firsts-in-travel/ Today marks the first time I’ve sat in the terminal waiting two and a half hours for the sun to melt the ice off the wings of my airplane, because my Southern California airport doesn’t need de-icing equipment.
I... 2008-12-12T18:21:09Z https://kfitz.info/new-toys/ I’ve just this morning upgraded to WordPress 2.7, and the nifty new interface has inspired me to actually post something. So here’s the post announcing my new toys, and, I certainly... 2008-11-26T15:31:19Z https://kfitz.info/hawaii-day-1/ R. and I are off on another of our famous working vacations, a phenomenon which makes my family (and many other folks as well) think we’re positively nuts. “You’re going to Hawaii in order... 2008-11-17T17:45:43Z https://kfitz.info/post-conference-post/ The most amazing thing about conferences for me is always how energized I am during and after them, how excited I become about whatever project I’m working on and how much I look forward to getting back to work.
The worst thing about them... 2008-11-13T11:35:49Z https://kfitz.info/msa/ The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, between the election, a pile of grading, a few general crises around here, and so forth, but one of the things that’s had me most preoccupied is this weekend — I’m headed to Nashville this morning for... 2008-11-04T20:50:27Z https://kfitz.info/tuesday/ It’ll no doubt shock everyone to hear that I’ve been starkly unproductive today. Weirdly unable to focus. Distracted. Nervous.
The good news is that I had errands to run, which allowed me to feel like I was accomplishing something, and a... 2008-10-31T18:24:13Z https://kfitz.info/twothousandone/ While you can, you should go do a little self-googling over at Google 2001. It’s mighty amusing to see how much less of a web presence I had back then…
Note that I say “while you can” for... 2008-10-31T13:54:47Z https://kfitz.info/coming-back/ I honestly didn’t mean to disappear for quite this long. I needed a little time, of course, to grieve, to process everything that was going on around me, to take care of things. But the longer I took, the harder it became to figure out what to say... 2008-09-16T15:57:24Z https://kfitz.info/in-memoriam/ I’ve spent the last few days trying to process my grief over the loss of my colleague Dave Wallace, trying to imagine saying something even remotely significant about it. The phrase “words fail me” has never seemed quite so appropriate; the thing... 2008-09-14T02:52:11Z https://kfitz.info/placeholder/ Traffic has picked up considerably around here — I assume with folks looking for a reaction.
I can’t have one right now. It’s too raw, too painful.
There will be something, but not yet. 2008-09-10T22:14:51Z https://kfitz.info/has-the-large-hadron-collider-destroyed-the-world-yet/ Answer here. (Be sure to read the source code.) 2008-09-05T15:55:43Z https://kfitz.info/department/ The big news around here is last night’s announcement that the Media Studies program at Pomona, in which I’ve taught for the last ten years, and which I’ve chaired (other than the semester I was on sabbatical) for the last four, will as of July 1,... 2008-09-05T03:53:41Z https://kfitz.info/but-wheres-the-minotaur/ This completely made my day: 2008-09-04T16:30:28Z https://kfitz.info/bringing-it-home/ The neighborhood they’re talking about in this article is where my parents live (though the image is from another neighborhood not too far away). 2008-09-04T00:26:49Z https://kfitz.info/the-news-from-baton-rouge/ I talked to my mother a little while ago, and the news from post-Gustav Baton Rouge (which only Josh and The... 2008-09-03T11:59:29Z https://kfitz.info/the-work-ahead/ Yesterday was the first day of classes around here, but today’s my first day of teaching. In preparation, I’ve done a major revamp of my teaching site, built a 2008-09-03T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-2-september-2008/ @chutry: gah! This year, I’m chairing a panel on the 29th at 1.45pm, which feels like primetime. Last year’s panel was during lunch. # 2008-09-01T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-31-august-2008/ Watching Gustav bearing down on the fam. Not happy about it. # 2008-08-29T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-28-august-2008/ @ghw_twits: Thanks! That’s a serious vote of confidence. Now I just have to get it written. # 2008-08-27T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-26-august-2008/ @ghw_twits: only a little. It is online (http://www.mlajournals.org/loi/pmla — inst. access required), but the accusation still bears out. 2008-08-26T11:49:50Z https://kfitz.info/the-contract/ If you’re a Facebook status watcher and a friend of mine, you may have seen the recent update in which I announced that I have a contract. It’s an advance contract for Planned Obsolescence: Publishing,... 2008-08-22T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-21-august-2008/ Having to get the car smogged so I can renew my registration for which I am paying a $15 late fee because the DMV didn’t correct my address. #
And no, iPhone autocorrect, I... 2008-08-20T12:57:14Z https://kfitz.info/eating-the-elephant/ The return from Paris, a little less than a week ago, went fairly well all things considered: all flights on time, all connections made, all bags arrived. Not too bad, all the way around.
We came home, however, to an apartment that needed... 2008-08-20T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-19-august-2008/ @mkirschenbaum @nowviskie: he spent last year with us; we’re really going to miss him. # 2008-08-16T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-15-august-2008/ From the window of our landing plane, California sure looked… brown. # 2008-08-15T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-14-august-2008/ Off plane in Houston. How utterly bizarre it is to be surrounded by people speaking English. #
I liked being able to tune out most of the chatter around me. My French is good... 2008-08-12T05:31:23Z https://kfitz.info/rentree/ Our twelve weeks in Paris have slid by alarmingly fast, and we’re deep in the thick of packing up for Thursday’s trip back to California. I’ve gotten myself past the initial dread, which was mostly about not wanting the utter freedom of being here... 2008-08-11T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-10-august-2008/ @mkirschenbaum: Well, you know, there’s sensitive information in there! I mean, if it fell into just anyone’s hands… # 2008-08-09T05:23:45Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-other-hand/ I did make this very short list of academic blogs, selected by the editors of More.ca, “Canada’s site celebrating women over 40.” Which is... 2008-08-09T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-8-august-2008/ Why is it that having researched and written something on the order of 70 pages of new prose this summer feels like not having done enough? #
Stop the presses! Edwards admits... 2008-08-06T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-5-august-2008/ Just woke up from the first teaching-panic dream of the season. Thanks, August. #
@mkgold: Echoing all the congrats, and also the request to hear about the project! 2008-08-05T09:30:51Z https://kfitz.info/hrmph/ There was a flurry of posts a few weeks back by folks noting that they’d been included (or 2008-08-05T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-4-august-2008/ @academicdave: I’d follow up @ghw_twits rec with Adrian Johns, The Nature of the Book, for an argument countering EE’s techno-determinism. 2008-08-04T06:06:08Z https://kfitz.info/heh/ Not only did I completely rock in my French-telephonic skillz yesterday, but I also managed to repair the wi-fi situation.
Either that or France Telecom fixed whatever ADSL server goofup was happening on their end.
Whatever. I’ll... 2008-08-03T08:40:40Z https://kfitz.info/adventures-in-wi-fi/ The bad news is that our internet connection in the flat crapped out last night.
The good news is that I didn’t break it.
The bad news is that I thought I had, and then couldn’t get it to restart. For anything. All last night, and... 2008-08-02T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-1-august-2008/ @calamityjake: Congrats on being done! # 2008-07-31T04:13:12Z https://kfitz.info/collaboration/ Just before plunging back into my chapter this morning, I took my usual tour of the RSS feeds, and discovered DR’s post about collaborative authorship... 2008-07-30T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-29-july-2008/ @halavais: Because you are being held hostage by the baby-industrial complex, man. #
@calamityjake: Hope you’re metaphysically alright. Apparently it was practically under... 2008-07-28T08:49:54Z https://kfitz.info/deadwood-take-two/ R. and I have been rewatching Deadwood, starting from the beginning, over the last few weeks, and I’ve found myself rather astonished by a few things:
1. How many small details and insinuations I’ve... 2008-07-24T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-23-july-2008/ Coffee, baguette, updates. Trying to get the morning started. #
Realizing that the google-alertedness of my newest post ( 2008-07-23T08:48:32Z https://kfitz.info/iphonery/ I’m sitting in a cafe down the street, the one I mentioned some days back, the one with the streaming L.A. radio station.[1] The other thing they’ve got is free wifi, which is allowing... 2008-07-23T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-22-july-2008/ Really, really wishing that the folks drilling into the other side of the wall would finish their project already and knock it the hell off. #
@ 2008-07-22T08:54:57Z https://kfitz.info/click/ It was like someone flipped a lightswitch.
I’ve been listening to a number of podcasts from France Culture for the last couple of weeks, trying to tune my ear to a... 2008-07-22T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-21-july-2008/ @wmrandth, thanks for the shout. @lblanken, there are more at http://machines.pomona.edu, but I think not what you’re looking for… 2008-07-21T14:16:09Z https://kfitz.info/insert-nippular-pun-of-your-choosing-here/ One wonders whether the final outcome (please god) of this debacle will... 2008-07-20T04:17:51Z https://kfitz.info/versioning/ WordPress 2.6, which was released just a few days ago, contains expanded support for versioning of blog posts, allowing an author to see all of the revisions made to a... 2008-07-20T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-19-july-2008/ Marveling at the omnipresence of this dark knight fella in everybody’s updates. Something happen over there while I was eating a baguette? # 2008-07-18T05:38:52Z https://kfitz.info/service/ So here’s a set of research findings that have caught me completely by surprise:[1] women’s careers in academia sometimes stall out on the road to full professorship because... 2008-07-14T06:43:02Z https://kfitz.info/le-quatorze/ There was a day last week when I joked with R. that the entirety of the French air force flew over our flat, a few planes at a time, in tight formations. And really, really low. I assumed it was some kind of exercise — and I now think, in fact,... 2008-07-12T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-11-july-2008/ My iPhone 2.0 is working swell, but where’s my MobileMe? I hate the name, but I want the farking update, thx. Don’t tell me I’m up to date. # 2008-07-11T03:21:04Z https://kfitz.info/random-thoughts-friday-morning/ What would it take to convince US stationers/businesses/whomever else to abandon our attachment to “letter size” paper and adopt the more aesthetically pleasing A4? Some part of me is resigned to the fact that this is a losing battle, like... 2008-07-08T06:49:29Z https://kfitz.info/global-networks/ Yesterday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours in a small café a few blocks from here, first doing some reading and then having coffee with a former student. The café’s quite cool — imagine a merger of French bar and college-town co-op coffee... 2008-07-05T06:10:27Z https://kfitz.info/yay/ I’m having one of those brilliant, and altogether too rare, periods in the writing process when everything that I’ve been up to, but didn’t really know on a conscious level that I was up to, has suddenly clarified, and what seemed like random bits... 2008-07-05T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-4-july-2008/ Happy 4th to everybody back there. # 2008-07-03T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-2-july-2008/ After a couple of weeks of utterly annoying sunshine, it’s finally raining in Paris again — a tremendous relief! # 2008-07-02T06:51:53Z https://kfitz.info/future-writing-take-two/ Good grief but it’s disheartening to look at today’s “five years ago” post and realize that I’m not only still asking many of the same questions, but also still need to look in many of the same places for the... 2008-06-30T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-29-june-2008/ Following the leaders: testing out Friendfeed, which at least so far remains under capacity! (Also, the comment function is nice.) #
@ 2008-06-29T13:01:46Z https://kfitz.info/the-bolter-principle/ I eagerly anticipate at some as yet undetermined point in the future having a complex thought of which I do not later discover Jay David Bolter has already said a portion, both more intelligently and a decade earlier.
(I feel compelled,... 2008-06-27T06:51:09Z https://kfitz.info/the-future-of-citations/ Things have been a bit quiet around MediaCommons for a while, as we’ve been working behind the scenes on a major platform transformation that should be coming soonish. But there has been a... 2008-06-27T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-26-june-2008/ Someone snuck in during the night and filled my head with rubber cement. Very clever. #
Best part of Macworld’s “Empty Your Inbox” advice is keeping mail out in the first... 2008-06-26T08:59:37Z https://kfitz.info/three-steps-forward-two-steps-back/ I had a positively spectacular work day on Tuesday, one of the first days in years on which I could say that I’d actually managed to accomplish way more than I’d expected. I hoped, of course, that this was the leading edge of a new wave of... 2008-06-26T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-25-june-2008/ Would much appreciate it if someone could tell me what good sinuses are supposed to do me. Thx. # 2008-06-24T09:40:55Z https://kfitz.info/stuart-moulthrop-after-the-last-generation/ Earlier so-called communications revolutions wrought only partial transformations: the increased emphasis on the image in photography and film; the recovery of orality in telegraphy, telephony, and radio; the creation of mass... 2008-06-24T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-23-june-2008/ Back in the thick of the project — or at least beginning to slog along again. # 2008-06-23T11:52:03Z https://kfitz.info/im-getting-in-the-plane/ I’ve got a million favorite lines, and so I just grabbed for the first one that came to mind. That there won’t be any more has already made the world seem a sadder place. 2008-06-23T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-22-june-2008/ Testing twhirl. Got nothing but errors yesterday; seems to be working now. Still not sure whether I like it, but it’s good for killing time. # 2008-06-22T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-21-june-2008/ About to head out for La F?™te de la Musique. I’ll be the one sitting at the cafe drinking a beer. #
@bighandsome: Surely you make up for it in purple-and-gold decor? 2008-06-21T06:32:50Z https://kfitz.info/on-elite-education/ There’s been a lot of discussion in the last few days of William Deresiewicz’s article in The American Scholar, “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education.” I’m... 2008-06-19T04:47:57Z https://kfitz.info/whoops-vol-vi/ For the sixth year running, and despite having reminded myself about it two days ago, I’ve once again missed the anniversary of starting Planned Obsolescence. (Witness: five, four, 2008-06-19T04:26:47Z https://kfitz.info/the-golden-notebooks/ My friends over at the Institute for the Future of the Book yesterday announced a new project, in which they’re working with the British Arts Council and Harper... 2008-06-18T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-17-june-2008/ I am completely and totally without focus today. That is all. # 2008-06-15T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-14-june-2008/ Last night’s BSG (torrent) was really alarming, until Google told me it wasn’t the last episode *ever*, just the last until 1/2009. Sheesh. # 2008-06-13T10:44:03Z https://kfitz.info/mr-jobs-tear-down-this-wall/ The title of this post may be a trifle overstated,[1] but I’m nonetheless seething over this. So, yes, I just got my regular old EDGE iPhone in December, and yes, I totally love it.... 2008-06-13T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-12-june-2008/ Took much of the day off today, to let the synapses cool down a bit. The work’s going well, but it’s exhausting… # 2008-06-09T05:12:08Z https://kfitz.info/planned-obsolescence-the-proposal/ As promised several days back, the proposal for the blob, below the fold. Any and all comments would be enormously appreciated. Further blobbing will follow in the days to come.
Planned... 2008-06-06T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-5-june-2008/ Slowly but surely knocking things off the to-do list and out of the inbox. I only hope I haven’t tempted the busywork demons by saying so. # 2008-06-04T03:52:57Z https://kfitz.info/time-shifting/ I’d completely forgotten that one of the most brilliant parts of working here in Paris (leaving aside, for the moment, the bare fact that I’m working here in Paris) is that everyone who wants to ask me to do something is six to... 2008-06-02T11:38:53Z https://kfitz.info/metrique/ There are some things that I’m just not getting used to negotiating in French. The telephone, for instance, still gives me shivers when it rings, and not (or not just) due to my usual phonaphobia; without the visual cues of face-to-face... 2008-06-02T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-1-june-2008/ A brilliant morning of writing and the markets. Now to stay awake for the rest of the afternoon, before the Sunday evening falafel. # 2008-06-02T03:24:43Z https://kfitz.info/pipe-dream/ Someday I will not need to relearn the lesson that I’m most productive as a writer when I postpone checking my email until after I’ve gotten well into the morning’s writing session. 2008-05-31T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-30-may-2008/ has done away with the last outstanding annoyances; now nothing’s in the way of the big project. Of course, that means no excuses. Hmm. #
has just answered her first two... 2008-05-28T08:57:37Z https://kfitz.info/the-blob/ The peer review chapter that I’ve mentioned a few times of late is a key element of the big project I’ve been working on since January (or more... 2008-05-27T04:55:29Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-scholarship/ A colleague of mine recently sent me a link to the Summer 2008 issue of Kairos, guest edited by Scott Lloyd DeWitt and Cheryl Ball, entitled “The Manifesto Issue.” The manifesto as a form is near... 2008-05-26T05:57:51Z https://kfitz.info/the-key/ The transition to life in Paris has gone amazingly smoothly thus far; we’ve found the perfect boulangerie, a great local cafe, and even managed to find our way back to the best falafel place ever, which we were taken to once last year. We’re both... 2008-05-25T05:23:02Z https://kfitz.info/planned-obsolescence-scholarly/ I’m back at work on the peer review chapter this morning; I started re-reading it yesterday, but was unable to make much sense of what I’d done during the spring. Yesterday, at least, I was still firmly in the scrambled-eggs-for-brains stage, in... 2008-05-25T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-24-may-2008/ After a pretty amazing first night’s sleep, sitting down at the computer with a cup of coffee and getting to work. The summer has begun! # 2008-05-24T07:18:24Z https://kfitz.info/on-reviens/ The most amazing thing thus far about our return to Paris is the immediacy of our immersion; having landed yesterday at CDG, taxied to the apartment we’re renting this summer, unpacked, and ventured out for our first bière, we both felt as if the... 2008-05-23T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-22-may-2008/ What am I forgetting? What am I forgetting? What am I forgetting? #
Sitting on the plane, waiting for takeoff for Paris. Au revoir, Etats-Unis! 2008-05-19T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-18-may-2008/ Recovering from two days of graduation festivities spent in 100-degree heat. Happily, ice-cold beverages are just what I want. # 2008-05-16T13:08:17Z https://kfitz.info/summer/ That summer is here is pretty undeniable — in fact, unseasonably so: as we venture into graduation weekend, we’re beset by severe heat advisories and a serious fire in the mountains just to our... 2008-05-12T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-11-may-2008/ Sitting in a Community Coffee House, trying to finish up the grading. Thanks, local place, for the free wi-fi! #
@ghw_twits: Great video, not to mention the excellent LSU... 2008-05-10T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-9-may-2008/ Using stupid wi-fi you have to pay for because my mother’s internet is broken. The price one pays to be a good daughter… #
All senior grades have been filed. The big class is... 2008-05-06T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-5-may-2008-2/ @calamityjake: back atcha — good luck with the last stuff there, and the next stuff to follow! # 2008-05-05T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-4-may-2008/ Just tripped and fell for the second time this year. Wearing the same shoes both times. Damn you, Keen, and your big rubbery toes. # 2008-05-04T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-3-may-2008/ The most awesome thing about Twittering now is having yet another publishing option that I can fail to update often enough. # 2008-05-03T13:02:39Z https://kfitz.info/tonight-a-conversation/ “‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett”: 2008-05-02T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-1-may-2008/ @calamityjake: Whoo-hoo, on all counts! #
@chutry: Congrats — fantastic news! # 2008-05-01T16:54:18Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-the-post/ In which I bemoan the absence of posting;
In which I gripe about being so busy;
In which I broadly hint that all the interesting things are unpublishable;
In which I promise a course correction;
In which I suggest great things to... 2008-04-27T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-26-april-2008/ Very, very happy to be home. That is all. # 2008-04-26T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-25-april-2008/ @lblanken: So many possibilities! My favorite would be Richard Powers, Galatea 2.2 # 2008-04-24T19:58:22Z https://kfitz.info/dreaming-youre-awake/ What little I managed to sleep last night, I spent dreaming about being exactly where I was, in the room where I was sleeping, in the house that I was in, waiting for the meeting that I spent the day in today. I find that kind of dream exhausting;... 2008-04-24T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-23-april-2008/ Flying with a sinus infection is no fun. Just in case you were wondering. #
PS: iPhone corrects "incase" to read "invade." Be careful when authorizing... 2008-04-22T23:05:56Z https://kfitz.info/paranoia/ My technologies are suddenly making me very nervous. Yesterday, at the end of a very long and stressful day, I came home and found my laptop open — I was quite convinced I’d closed it before leaving — and Skype running on the screen. And I... 2008-04-22T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-21-april-2008/ Two and a half weeks. Two and a half weeks. Two and a half weeks. Perhaps if I say it enough, it’ll start to sink in. # 2008-04-21T02:49:26Z https://kfitz.info/well-that-was-fun/ I’m still uncertain about the header; it may change yet, but I’m pretty happy with the rest. Do let me know if you find anything weird. (I mean, things I’ve overlooked, not things you don’t like.) 2008-04-20T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-19-april-2008/ Contemplating ripping all my CDs and then carting them off to the used record store. When’s the last time I listened to a CD, anyhow? #
Obviously tinkering with twitterings... 2008-04-19T14:15:21Z https://kfitz.info/further-tinkering/ So the twittery updates have started bugging me; I’m going to test out the daily digest option for a few days, and if that still bugs me, I’ll move to the sidebar option.
That’s thing one. Thing two is that I’ve decided I’m officially... 2008-04-19T03:59:59Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-18-april-2008/ Fighting off a technicolor sinus infection. Yum. # 2008-04-16T19:35:22Z https://kfitz.info/response-to-electronic-media/ While I certainly agree that reports of the ‘death of the novel’ have been greatly exaggerated, and anxieties about new media technologies and the threats they allegedly pose to literature may reflect fears about larger societal... 2008-04-15T14:09:17Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-15-april-2008/ Staying home in your pajamas on a Tuesday morning feels like playing hooky, even if you’re doing it in order to read a senior thesis. # 2008-04-14T20:53:34Z https://kfitz.info/future-and-past/ It’s prospie season, round these parts, and the campus is full of admitted students and their families, who are going to various panel discussions, browsing through department fairs, and attending classes. Both of my classes this morning were... 2008-04-11T15:23:04Z https://kfitz.info/a-twittering-update/ I’ve edited my feeds (RSS, RSS2, RDF, and atom) such that posts generated by the Twitter Tools plugin are excluded from my feeds. Let me know if you spot anything odd… 2008-04-11T15:14:42Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-11-april-2008/ Testing out the code for excluding twitterings imported to my blog from my RSS feed… # 2008-04-10T17:36:39Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-10-april-2008/ Ikea sez a new sofa may be all I need. If only it were so. #
How does one go about thickening one’s skin, exactly? 2008-04-09T20:01:17Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-9-april-2008/ Classes went well, faculty meeting was survivable, and now the last minute of office hours is ticking to a close. Wednesday, complete. #
Wishing I had something more... 2008-04-09T11:46:52Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings/ What I was tinkering with yesterday was Twitter Tools, a plugin for WordPress that connects your blog and your Twitter account, allowing you do a range of things like have your twitterings (I really can’t bring myself to use the word “tweets”)... 2008-04-09T00:24:16Z https://kfitz.info/twitterings-on-8-april-2008/ @chutry Maybe we should set up an exchange; you read mine and I’ll read yours. That way they’ll all be new and different! # 2008-04-08T15:25:53Z https://kfitz.info/pardon-the-dust/ Doing a bit of tinkering in the background here, so things may look a bit odd at moments. Carry on. 2008-04-05T12:48:55Z https://kfitz.info/technology-updates/ Of which there are several:

While I was on my last trip (to New Orleans), I discovered that the 12-inch Powerbook G4 that I’ve been attached to for the last three years suddenly had a battery life of about 20 minutes. I’d been... 2008-03-27T12:02:33Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-absence-of-thoughts-cat-blogging/ But no actual cats. I saw this animation the other day, and something in it resonated so deeply that I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. It’s viral, I think, in an infectious way. The only thing that’s left is for me to pass it on. 2008-03-25T17:25:39Z https://kfitz.info/ifbook-nyu-the-neh-and-mediacommons/ (Crossposted from MediaCommons.)
I’ve hinted over the last several months that big things were afoot for MediaCommons, but haven’t been able to be terribly specific; at last, however, the haps:
Our friends at 2008-03-19T14:13:24Z https://kfitz.info/spring-broke/ Alarmingly, we’ve hit the midpoint of spring break already, and this is the first time I’ve managed to post. I’ve meant to post every day — really, I have — but what with one thing and another…

One thing: a really nasty cold that... 2008-03-04T17:52:52Z https://kfitz.info/second-lives/ For the last couple of years, I’ve been a member of the executive committee of the MLA’s discussion group on literature and media (a group name that makes me a little bonkers). Each year, we sponsor one panel at the convention; this year’s call... 2008-03-03T17:39:14Z https://kfitz.info/survived/ The symposium was a smashing success, I’m happy to report; the talks were all pitch-perfect and, for a Saturday, we got a respectable turnout. Honestly, though, I’d have been fine if... 2008-02-27T01:19:29Z https://kfitz.info/the-descent/ I’ve been writing up a storm in whatever stolen moments I can get, and working like a fiend at every other hour of the day, with the exceptions of the ones where I sleep (not enough, and not terribly well) and the ones where I watch season 5 of 2008-02-09T17:50:21Z https://kfitz.info/good-news-bad-news-2/ The good news is that I’ve been writing fairly well, am close to a draft on the new article/chapter, and am also close to a draft of the book/project proposal.
The bad news is that I’ve been spending a little more time writing than I... 2008-02-04T14:03:11Z https://kfitz.info/white-women-are-a-problem/ From the Broadsheet, without comment:

Bill Kristol: Look, the only people for Hillary Clinton are the Democratic establishment and white women. The... 2008-02-01T14:27:50Z https://kfitz.info/transformative-works-and-cultures/ Transformative Works and Cultures, an exciting new electronic journal (whose board I’m on) published by the Organization for Transformative Works, has just released its first... 2008-01-29T02:00:11Z https://kfitz.info/administration/ I have had one of those days that makes me want to run away and never ever be in charge of anything again.
That is all. 2008-01-25T19:09:15Z https://kfitz.info/friday/ Week 1 status report:
— Classes are overflowing, but the overflow seems to have ebbed a bit, at least in one of them.
— 4500 words written on new article draft; 1000ish words written on “book” proposal draft.
— Excitement... 2008-01-24T14:07:01Z https://kfitz.info/epiphany/ I had one of those moments earlier this week, in which I suddenly felt as though the fog had lifted and everything I’d been muddling through for the last year or so became clear. I’m really hoping that this clarity isn’t temporary — I’m hoping I’m... 2008-01-23T17:03:23Z https://kfitz.info/geeky-as-i-want-to-be/ I believe that this may be my most fun semester ever.[1] My schedule includes, on the English side of my appointment, my Race, Gender, and... 2008-01-22T14:09:14Z https://kfitz.info/the-new-regime-day-2/ Day 2 has not gone, shall we say, as well as day 1 did. This is primarily due to the fact that I woke up at 2 am, a bit sick and completely unable to go back to sleep. (Yes, the time stamp on the last post is accurate.) Focus is not high this... 2008-01-22T08:17:40Z https://kfitz.info/peer-review-2/ Yesterday morning, as part of the new regime, I sat down and did half an hour of uninterrupted, undistracted writing, beginning the process of blocking out the new article I’m working on, focusing on the history and future of peer review. And not... 2008-01-21T11:49:19Z https://kfitz.info/new-leaf/ The spring semester doesn’t start until tomorrow, but today’s the first day of the new regime: I got up early, I’m sitting at the computer for half an hour of focused writing (though I’ll admit that I did sneak a peek at my email, but didn’t... 2008-01-18T13:53:40Z https://kfitz.info/telepresence/ I spent a big chunk of yesterday (and will be spending a similar chunk of today) conducting a series of interviews via video conferencing, and I’m having one of those, “well, duh” moments: video interviews are different from phone... 2008-01-16T15:54:45Z https://kfitz.info/air/ I’m still processing my responses to yesterday’s Macworld Stevenote and the announcement of the MacBook Air. On the one hand, a... 2008-01-15T14:30:59Z https://kfitz.info/blur/ I’m off to the eye doctor, foax, which doesn’t bode well for the old productivity today. I’ll be spending part of what remains of the day in a meeting, and the rest of it trying to ignore the increasingly loud ticking of the clock. More later, I... 2008-01-14T18:11:31Z https://kfitz.info/pre-semester-anxiety/ Which is less anxiety about the semester, per se, than anxiety about the fact that the break between semesters is all but over, and that I’ve still got an enormous pile of stuff that really needs to be done before the spring gets fully underway.... 2008-01-12T16:14:27Z https://kfitz.info/open-access/ One presentation in this session on open access; notes below the fold.
Cy Dillon, “Open Access: Potential and Challenges”
— challenges to college libraries: periodical budgets stagnant; users prefer electronic access
— aggregated... 2008-01-12T14:56:02Z https://kfitz.info/scholarly-collaboration-day-2/ This morning’s first panel was on campus strategic planning initiatives.
Joel Cooper, Egohsa Awaah, Andrea Nixon, “Study of Visual Materials Use at Carleton College”
— collaborative ethic at Carleton, but sense of needing to move... 2008-01-11T22:04:07Z https://kfitz.info/scholarship-in-new-media/ Final presentation of the day, from Dan Schnaidt, below the fold.
“Repositioning the Academic Media Studio”
— background: 2000, pilot faculty digitization project, development of media database (oracle-based, worked with librarians... 2008-01-11T21:04:04Z https://kfitz.info/web-20-in-the-classroom/ Three excellent presentations in this session, below the fold.
Alex Juhasz, Learning from YouTube
— in large part about the failures of YouTube as a learning environment
— negatives in going public: mainstream media’s reflections... 2008-01-11T14:53:38Z https://kfitz.info/scholarly-collaboration-in-the-digital-age/ Today’s the NITLE conference on campus, beginning with a plenary panel on Scholarly... 2008-01-10T14:02:30Z https://kfitz.info/completism/ Why is it that, even when I’ve realized that the book I’ve started reading isn’t the text I actually need to be reading — either it doesn’t do the thing I thought it did, or it occurs to me that my attention would be more fruitfully placed... 2008-01-09T14:24:16Z https://kfitz.info/keynote/ I spent most of yesterday working on cutting a 35-page paper down into the 15-20 minute talk I’ll be giving on Friday at a 2008-01-08T14:44:57Z https://kfitz.info/geaux/ Four years ago, I live-blogged the game (let’s count: one, two, three, four, five, 2008-01-07T15:08:21Z https://kfitz.info/emerging/ I’m finally acknowledging this morning that the holidays are over, that there are two weeks left before classes start, and that if I’m going to get anything done, now’s the moment. I’m hoping to return to some regular writing here in this new... 2007-12-30T14:25:08Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-hate-hackers-right-now/ I’ve noticed in my stats over the last couple of days that I’ve been getting some hits off some genuinely vile googlings, things I’m not going to reproduce here. The hits have been on pages that contain no such content, and no content... 2007-12-30T13:57:03Z https://kfitz.info/mla-thoughts/ Recovering today after a quite wonderful MLA. I got to meet several people that I’d been hoping to introduce myself to for a while, I got to catch up with some old friends, and I got to attend and participate in a number of fantastic panels.... 2007-12-29T00:06:10Z https://kfitz.info/the-sum-total-of-my-negative-thoughts-regarding-my-new-iphone/ 1. Man, do I have some greasy fingers.
2. I have to take my gloves off to answer the phone? In the snow?
3. What do you mean there’s no iChat client? 2007-12-27T01:38:59Z https://kfitz.info/another-year-another-mla/ The last few days have been a blur of travel and family, all of which I survived, though not without some bumps along the way. I’m happily ensconced in my hotel room in Chicago now, though, awaiting what promises to be the most action-packed MLA... 2007-12-20T16:53:07Z https://kfitz.info/no-seriously/ I received a very nice and fairly apologetic note today, informing me that I was not elected to the Delegate Assembly of the MLA.
This is one of those cases when saying “it’s an honor just to have been nominated” really, really applies.... 2007-12-20T16:18:49Z https://kfitz.info/ahhhh/ The real beauty part of having teeny tiny little classes, as I’ve always suspected but never really gotten to experience, is that grading goes fast. One can zip through everything in a day or two, and get on with the important business of one’s... 2007-12-20T11:27:09Z https://kfitz.info/trend/ With one exception, every single Christmas card I have received so far this year has been produced by Shutterfly. 2007-12-19T18:08:56Z https://kfitz.info/kindle-part-two/ So a pal of mine has just drawn my attention to an interesting article in the L.A. Times from about ten days or so ago on responses to the... 2007-12-19T16:44:29Z https://kfitz.info/outstanding/ I’ve just found out that The Anxiety of Obsolescence has been named an Outstanding Academic Title for 2007 by CHOICE, the publication of the Association of... 2007-12-19T04:19:20Z https://kfitz.info/two-things-i-have-decided/ … since R. took off for the holidays:
1. Some percentage of my not-blogging is directly attributable to his presence here in Claremont. Which is to say not that he’s interfering with the writing process, but that some percentage (that same... 2007-12-11T22:55:18Z https://kfitz.info/hitting-bottom/ Every semester has an emblematic moment. This semester’s finally arrived today, in the moment when, walking along talking with the dean, I stumbled on a bit of uneven sidewalk and completely face-planted on the pavement.
Falling gets harder... 2007-12-09T19:52:05Z https://kfitz.info/things-ive-missed-commenting-upon-while-the-urge-to-blog-has-been-more-or-less-absent-part-1/ Amazon Kindle: My Writing Machines class spent a fair chunk of the week of its release discussing the Kindle, the things that make it... 2007-11-25T14:22:59Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-work/ R. and I are just finishing up a long weekend away, spent in a very low-key way, if not exactly in a very low-key place, mostly holed up in a hotel working. I’ve gotten a good bit done — about two-thirds of my MLA presentation is now written... 2007-11-14T21:49:58Z https://kfitz.info/hornets/ For the last three days, as I’ve faced my computer in my office, I’ve heard this insistent tapping at the windows in front of me; dozens of hornets buzzed outside, looking for ways in. A couple each day succeeded, sending me in search of campus... 2007-11-07T21:00:28Z https://kfitz.info/linkedin/ I am, at the moment, just freaked out enough to feel the need to post this right away, though it’s one of those things that on further reflection may make me wish I’d waited. But…
I got a request from a former student a few minutes ago... 2007-11-06T17:21:15Z https://kfitz.info/mark-twain-project/ My friends at the University of California Press and the California Digital Library project last week launched a beta version of the Mark Twain Project, an astonishing archive bringing together more... 2007-11-06T00:23:04Z https://kfitz.info/a-slight-snag/ The only problem with refocusing this blog on my research is that, of late, I’m not doing any, as, well, it’s November. This week, I have a set of project outlines and a set of term paper proposals to comment on, and then a series of... 2007-10-20T17:37:36Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-831/ This morning’s keynote speaker was one of my favorite people, John Willinsky, head of the Public Knowledge Project, which has produced both the Open Journal Systems and the Open Conference Systems, among other projects. Again, problems in the... 2007-10-20T14:27:02Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-823/ Yesterday’s keynote was from Henry Jenkins, entitled “The Moral Economy of Web 2.0: Reconsidering the Relations Between Producers and Consumers.” I’m posting my notes below the fold; anything goofy therein should be attributed to flaws in the... 2007-10-20T14:01:37Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-822/ I sorta dropped the ball on conference blogging yesterday, as I got increasingly caught up in conferencing itself — but I’m going to attempt to catch up on the rest of the day:
The second panel I attended yesterday, just after lunch, was... 2007-10-19T17:23:46Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-821/ The first panel I made it to today (I slept in a tiny bit, and then got so irate over the Chronicle that I missed the first session) focused on the question of the openness of ostensibly open communities, including wiki contributors, YouTube... 2007-10-19T12:47:48Z https://kfitz.info/private-communications/ Okay, I’m in the middle of reading today’s Chronicle Careers column, and have just hit a paragraph (or two) that has me positively gobsmacked. The column is about... 2007-10-19T02:46:48Z https://kfitz.info/at-the-blogging-crossroads/ I’ve read (and written) any number of blog posts over the last few years analyzing the phenomenon of meta-blogging — posts that creep up on meta-meta-blogging, I guess: blogging about blogging about blogging. Some of these have focused on the... 2007-10-18T21:46:56Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-814/ The last panel for me for today was a collection of papers focused on methodological questions, ranging from the formulation of research premises, through the collection of data, to the publication of results. Radhika Gajjala began with a paper on... 2007-10-18T19:49:55Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-813/ Post-lunch panel today on blogging, with four excellent papers: Sean Lawson, on milblogging in relationship to the military’s official attempts to regulate and restrict such online writing by military personnel; Gina Walejko on academic bloggers’... 2007-10-18T15:47:36Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-812/ The first keynote of the conference was from John Lester of Linden Labs, on Second Life. It was an interesting talk, for someone (like me) who has paid very little attention to what’s been going on there — a broad swath of the kind of... 2007-10-18T13:45:17Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-811/ First panel of the day, on sexuality and gender online; several excellent papers. I’m particularly compelled by Michele White’s exploration of the heteronormative pressures of eBay’s official discourses and the ways that individual sellers wind up... 2007-10-17T19:10:29Z https://kfitz.info/cool-i-think/ Does this mean that when I’m back in Paris next summer, I can buy an Orange SIM card for the iPhone I’ll have by then and use it natively?
Or perhaps that I could... 2007-10-17T15:05:08Z https://kfitz.info/internet-research-eh/ I’m headed here later today, for this. I’m certain to see him, and 2007-10-16T15:44:27Z https://kfitz.info/my-week-in-publishing/ Apparently this is the week when everything I’ve done for the last four months hits the metaphorical stands: today, the newest issue of Vectors was released; I served as peer-reviewer on a project... 2007-10-15T15:15:12Z https://kfitz.info/the-return-of-the-review/ The other thing I’ve been meaning to post about: my friend Bill Tipper has for the last several months been overseeing the rebirth of editorial content at Barnes & Noble online, in the form of the new 2007-10-15T14:05:28Z https://kfitz.info/commentpress-new-social-structures-for-new-networked-texts/ Late last spring, I attended “New Structures, New Texts,” a very exciting one-day meeting of folks from various academic publishing units, both press-affiliated and library-affiliated, who are all engaged... 2007-10-03T21:04:58Z https://kfitz.info/the-most-brilliant-thing-ive-read-all-month/ That would be this hint on how to force Apple Mail.app to display messages in plain-text. Even those annoying messages from the assistant who insists on using an image as... 2007-10-01T14:30:03Z https://kfitz.info/rccs-reviews/ As hinted yesterday, I spent part of last week working on a response to some reviews of The Anxiety of Obsolescence. Those reviews (five of them!), and my response, are now up at the 2007-09-30T14:25:19Z https://kfitz.info/deadlines/ Here’s where I’ve been, and where I’ll continue to be for a bit yet:

Due early last week: invites to speakers for spring symposium; completed.
Due late last week: a chunk of grading for both of my classes; completed. (At... 2007-09-25T14:13:57Z https://kfitz.info/marketing/ I just got the following email message from a colleague on the far side of the country, with whom I actually haven’t been in contact in at least four or five years:

Hi, Kathleen–
I hope you’re well. I wanted to tell you... 2007-09-25T12:39:38Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-commentpress/ The Chronicle covers the Institute for the Future of the Book’s release of CommentPress this week. Overall, it’s a strong... 2007-09-24T14:07:57Z https://kfitz.info/the-googlization-of-everything/ From my friends at the Institute for the Future of the Book today comes the launch of Siva Vaidhyanathan’s new book-in-progress, The Googlization... 2007-09-21T17:29:43Z https://kfitz.info/thankfully/ I’m utterly flabbergasted by this story, from the afternoon update of the Chronicle of Higher Education:

MIT Student Sporting Circuit-Board Artwork Is Arrested... 2007-09-20T17:57:09Z https://kfitz.info/personal-technology-updates/ An odd assortment of things:
1. I’ve intended, since they were released, to buy an iPhone as soon as my contract with my current non-AT&T wireless company expired. I’ve been operating for the last couple of months under the... 2007-09-18T21:18:15Z https://kfitz.info/what-id-really-like/ Is another three hours in the day, only available for reading and writing. No meetings, no meals, no phone calls, no email. Preferably — and this will no doubt make me sound like even more of a misanthrope than I actually am — no human contact at... 2007-09-15T13:36:16Z https://kfitz.info/september-is-the-cruelest-month/ Seriously: forget April.
September hereabouts brings together the end of summer (as in the always-insane beginning of the fall semester, in which the red [i.e., meetings] takes over my iCal) with the onset of the worst of summer (as in... 2007-09-04T13:07:12Z https://kfitz.info/in-theory/ From the Chronicle of Higher Education today comes an announcement of a report... 2007-08-31T16:42:44Z https://kfitz.info/deblogging/ What is it about being at home that makes me stop blogging? I posted ever so regularly during the Paris sojourn, and even managed the occasional post during the three frenetic weeks of travel that followed. But now I’ve been home for over a week,... 2007-08-23T14:39:05Z https://kfitz.info/university-publishing-in-a-digital-age-in-a-digital-age/ A while back, I mentioned the release of the Ithaka report on University Publishing in a Digital Age. Ithaka has... 2007-08-20T21:04:32Z https://kfitz.info/have-i-really-been-gone-that-long/ I just got an email message from MoveOn.org, with the subject line “Vigil to End the War in Claremont,” and for a few seconds longer than I’d like to admit, I was mightily confused. We have a movie theater now, and... 2007-08-12T19:44:30Z https://kfitz.info/kicked/ A nine-hour time zone change in one direction, followed two days later by a three-hour change back the other direction.
One apparently lost, and then merely destroyed suitcase. One two-and-a-half-hour airport delay.
Two days,... 2007-08-07T19:48:49Z https://kfitz.info/flying/ We left the flat this morning at 9, headed into the various queues that make up pretty much the entirety of the CDG experience. The taxi was fine, the airport was fine, the boarding was fine. And the first flight was fine: 10 hours, CDG to IAH,... 2007-08-05T09:00:58Z https://kfitz.info/abjection/ I am completely up to my eyeballs in theories of subjection right now, and am thoroughly enjoying the connections that the reading that I’m doing is helping me to make, but I just want to note, for the record, that I long to be able to read (and,... 2007-08-02T10:43:49Z https://kfitz.info/ignore-the-line-beneath-this-one/ Have not posted in part because I don’t want my very own blog to confront me with the knowledge that it’s no longer July. But must suck it up: August is both going to blow, and to blow by… 2007-07-31T12:15:14Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-series-casefiles/ Among the kinds of texts that we’ve repeatedly noted as potential forms for MediaCommons to explore is what I’ve previously referred to as the “digital casebook,” an evolution of the anthology that allows scholars working on a single text, such as... 2007-07-31T07:46:05Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-a-test-post/ In which I attempt to figure out whether my computer, or WordPress, or the internet more generally has a problem with the 31st of July. I posted an entry on the MediaCommons blog earlier this morning, but for whatever reason the permalinks to that... 2007-07-30T18:05:22Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-work-with-you-then/ There’s much I’d like to post about, but there’s only been steadfast, nose-to-grindstone work today, in part because I’m feeling that last week running through the hourglass mighty quickly, but in part because I spent the weekend with Harry... 2007-07-27T06:07:09Z https://kfitz.info/completion/ I’ve been taking all my research notes in TextMate for a while now, which, as text editors go, is really way more powerful than what I need. What I like about it, though, is the notion of the “project”... 2007-07-26T13:17:22Z https://kfitz.info/more-anxiety-other-obsolescences/ I had a great IM chat with Stephanie Booth this morning. I met Stephanie at Blogtalk back in October, and she pinged me today to tell me about an article of hers that’s... 2007-07-26T06:26:12Z https://kfitz.info/university-publishing-in-a-digital-age/ I haven’t gotten to read the full report yet, but the Chronicle’s article today on the release of the Ithaka report, 2007-07-25T15:59:34Z https://kfitz.info/commentpress/ The Institute for the Future of the Book has today announced the release of its open source WordPress theme, 2007-07-24T10:56:23Z https://kfitz.info/introduction-to-literary-research/ The database anthology I’m on the editorial board of is going into a second edition, of sorts — we’re adding a fair number of new texts and cleaning up some issues with the old ones. For this second... 2007-07-23T04:36:05Z https://kfitz.info/the-happiest-person-in-paris/ It’s raining again! And it looks like it’s going to rain all day! 2007-07-22T15:47:45Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-brighter-side/ First off, there are still two full weeks left, plus a full day of packing. And the longest time I’ve spent here before was two weeks, so it’s just like that trip all over again.
Secondly, I’ve begun thinking to myself of things that I will... 2007-07-21T07:21:21Z https://kfitz.info/undone/ R. and I have been back at work this week after our weekend of picnics, and I’ve been attempting to knock some smallish tasks off the to-do list. The article that I was at work on last week is fully drafted, and is out to some folks for comment.... 2007-07-18T05:51:18Z https://kfitz.info/good-reading/ I got sucked into a conversation last night over at Unfogged that started out with ogged’s annoyance over what he refers to as the 2007-07-17T06:01:58Z https://kfitz.info/et-le-quinze-aussi/ This was the weekend of picnics — first Saturday’s explosion-filled French-speaking one, and then Sunday’s, which was a bit more peaceful and overwhelmingly more Anglophone. We met 2007-07-15T08:50:05Z https://kfitz.info/le-quatorze-juillet/ As I remarked to R. midway through dinner last night, as we sat in the courtyard of the house of a friend of a friend of a friend up in the 20th, listening to sporadic pétards exploding in the surrounding streets, it’s good to know that... 2007-07-13T06:10:26Z https://kfitz.info/blogging-firstborn-or-second-coming/ This was originally going to be another comment on the previous post, which I’ve been thinking about a bunch. Partially because meg seems to have gotten the idea that I’ve got... 2007-07-12T05:41:35Z https://kfitz.info/again-with-the-blegging/ Somewhere, not terribly long ago, I heard or read someone make the argument that blogging was the first genuinely internet-native mode of publishing. I’ve been searching around for such a statement, and am coming up a bit dry. My fear is that this... 2007-07-11T06:54:00Z https://kfitz.info/but-before-i-get-to-that/ It astonishes me how frequently I say to myself, I’m going to write an article about x, and then realize that in order to make the argument about x that I really want to make, I must set up a whole series of background issues,... 2007-07-10T12:26:32Z https://kfitz.info/pinxo/ An email correspondent has asked about — nay, demanded — that post about the meal. I feel honor-bound to comply:
Last week, R. took me back to the 1er, to the 2007-07-09T10:00:28Z https://kfitz.info/meteo/ Everyone here has been complaining about the weather non-stop, or, when not complaining about it, apologizing for it. “The weather,” they say, shrugging in that French way, “has not been so nice.”
The validity of that statement depends very... 2007-07-07T11:07:47Z https://kfitz.info/070707/ Simply marking the moment. Carry on. 2007-07-06T12:18:20Z https://kfitz.info/not-so-terrifically-random-friday-thoughts/ — The box has been resent, via a much more expensive but apparently trackable commercial carrier, who promises that it will arrive on Monday, July 9, at 11.30 pm. I am fascinated, both by the apparently round-the-clock deliveries they provide and... 2007-07-05T05:57:06Z https://kfitz.info/good-news-bad-news/ The good news is that the mystery box has been found!
The bad news is that it has been found at my house in California.
The good news is that I have a housesitter armed and ready to ship it again!
The bad news is that I have... 2007-07-04T12:57:05Z https://kfitz.info/oh-yeah-happy-uh/ There’s always something very odd about being in a place where the 4th of July is only… July 4.
Have a happy one back there, all. Eat something flame-grilled for me. 2007-07-04T06:47:06Z https://kfitz.info/semi-random-thoughts-about-books/ 1. The box of them (a.k.a. le colis de mystère) is still nowhere to be found. The USPS remains clueless. La Poste no longer acknowledges that there was once a package with the number they’d assigned to... 2007-07-03T06:34:28Z https://kfitz.info/so-many-projects-so-little-focus/ It’s gray and rainy here in Paris today, which is actually kind of awesome because it enables me to refrain from feeling guilty that I’m sitting here at the computer, again, rather than being out in the streets wearing fabulous scarves and... 2007-07-02T09:43:12Z https://kfitz.info/there-are-no-items-to-show-in-this-view/ Must post quickly, because I know it won’t last, but: as of 2.43 pm CET today, my email inbox is completely, 100% empty. In fact, so are the inboxes for all four of my accounts. I’ve taken care of everything that had been lingering in there, and... 2007-07-01T08:14:16Z https://kfitz.info/authority-30/ One of the speakers at the “New Structures, New Texts” summit in early June was Michael Jensen, the director of web communication for the 2007-06-29T12:07:09Z https://kfitz.info/hic/ We were down for a few hours in the early a.m., PDT (around 1 p.m. ish here) for some site maintenance, which I got a little carried away with. All seems okay now, but let me know if you encounter any weirdness, okay? 2007-06-29T06:26:30Z https://kfitz.info/life-in-the-interstice/ I’m currently reading Empire of Signs (one of the few books that actually went... 2007-06-28T10:01:45Z https://kfitz.info/david-mitchell-cloud-atlas/ One of the greatest joys of summer, for me, is getting a brief glimpse of that seemingly long-ago period of my life when I used to Read for Fun. Which is something different from having fun while reading; it’s reading utterly divorced from... 2007-06-28T05:33:55Z https://kfitz.info/your-amazoncouk-order-has-dispatched/ No sign of box-o-books. Paid approx. $67 yesterday to have two books I already own sent to the woman whose name is on the mailbox, who will hopefully receive them on 3 July.
On the up side: slept like a big dog last night, for something... 2007-06-27T04:49:18Z https://kfitz.info/updates/ Sleeping: improved, but not perfect.
Box of books: still missing. The United States says, with absolute certainty, that the package is still in France, where it should remain for 30 days. We haven’t talked to France again yet, but will hope... 2007-06-25T07:25:44Z https://kfitz.info/un-post-sur-la-poste/ I have to admit, I’ve gotten a bit complacent these days. Since moving to an address that the postal system and the various private shipping companies actually believe exists — a place where my packages actually arrive, taking a reasonably direct... 2007-06-25T05:21:14Z https://kfitz.info/where-is-everybody/ Since my migration from ExpressionEngine to WordPress, my site traffic has fallen off by something between 60 and 75 percent. I want to attribute this to the change in my feed address, but if I’m being honest, I should also... 2007-06-22T06:33:44Z https://kfitz.info/solstice/ Yesterday was the summer solstice, of course, the longest day of the year, which hereabouts began with the first bits of sun, sometime around 5.15 am, and ended with the last bits, well after 10.30 pm. Last night was also the 2007-06-20T08:31:07Z https://kfitz.info/precedings/ Ben has just reminded me of something that I meant to post, both here and at MediaCommons,... 2007-06-19T13:24:35Z https://kfitz.info/five/ I swore I wasn’t going to miss it this year, as I did last year and the year before (and the year before that, and the year before that). I even... 2007-06-19T07:15:01Z https://kfitz.info/les-pauvres/ Poor, poor beleaguered experts. How can one possibly survive the onslaught of the unwashed (and uncredentialed) blogospheric... 2007-06-19T06:58:40Z https://kfitz.info/tee-totaling/ I’m quite behind the times on this (appropriate for mon état, quand je souffre du décalage horaire), but the talk of the lefty blogosphere a couple of weeks ago was the much that was being made of W’s having been spotted drinking what his advisors... 2007-06-18T09:57:04Z https://kfitz.info/update-from-paris/ In no particular order:
— My sleep problems continue unabated. Last night, I slept fairly well from shortly after midnight until sometime around 4 am, and then was awake between 4 and 8 am (and actually out of bed and reading between 5 and... 2007-06-16T00:13:09Z https://kfitz.info/who-needs-sleep/ Well, I’m never gonna get it.
Since arriving here in Paris, I’ve been waiting for the bad night, the one in which sleep eludes me regardless of what counter-measures I take. That night is tonight, apparently. I went fairly directly to sleep... 2007-06-14T09:51:55Z https://kfitz.info/feed-me/ Incidentally, if you’ve been reading Planned Obsolescence via an RSS feed, you’ll no doubt have noticed that the feed URLs have changed since the migration to WordPress. The feed is now available, conveniently, at 2007-06-14T06:25:51Z https://kfitz.info/it-goes-on-and-on-and/ I suddenly find myself with about a dozen things I’d like to write about, which is a remarkable change from the blankness that I’ve experienced when pondering the blog. At least a couple of these things I’m quite behind the curve on, given our... 2007-06-12T00:46:22Z https://kfitz.info/packing/ The last three days have been utterly consumed with departure-for-Paris business. We head off tomorrow morning, and there are at least three things I need to do before I go. The most pressing of those is sleep, which I’m off to do now. More from... 2007-06-08T20:33:08Z https://kfitz.info/categories-2/ I’m tinkering a bit with my categories, trying to make them a bit more tree-like, but given that I’ve already got two systems represented here (the old tripartite novels/networks/inbetween structure and the more recent whatever-occurs-to-me... 2007-06-08T19:01:09Z https://kfitz.info/but-its-summer/ So why am I attending meetings and writing reports?
The good news is that I’ve got approximately three more days during which to do any college-related business; then we’re off to Paris for seven blissful weeks. The two of us, the... 2007-06-06T13:44:51Z https://kfitz.info/new-economics/ Session 4: New Economics
(This was in many ways the most interesting session of the day, in part because of the real overlap between Michael Jensen’s vision of the peer-review system of the future with MediaCommons’s goals, and in part... 2007-06-06T13:36:50Z https://kfitz.info/new-structures/ Finishing up the notes from yesterday’s meeting:
Session 3: New Structures
Maria Bonn, Director, Scholarly Publishing Office, University of Michigan; Phil Pochoda, Director, University of Michigan Press
SPO: publishing unit... 2007-06-05T18:14:52Z https://kfitz.info/new-texts/ Session 2: New “Texts”
Lynne Withey, director, UC Press; Catherine Candee, director of strategic publishing initiatives, California Digital Library
“New Texts, New Tasks: A Case Study from the University of California”
6-8 year... 2007-06-05T17:23:35Z https://kfitz.info/new-directions/ Notes from this morning’s first session follow. Any misrepresentations herein are solely the fault of the note taker.
Dan Greenstein, Vice Provost, University of California
“New Directions, Different Possibilities”
UC libraries... 2007-06-05T13:17:37Z https://kfitz.info/new-structures-new-texts/ I’m in Oakland for the day today, at a thoroughly exciting meeting: “New Structures, New Texts: A Summit on the Library and the Press as Partners in the Enterprise of Scholarly Publishing.” I’ll hope to post my notes either during the day today or... 2007-06-04T16:08:20Z https://kfitz.info/its-not-tv/ Last night, I have to say, was a heck of a night of television — the second-to-last episode of The Sopranos (EVER, as the trailer for next’s week’s episode informed us, in case we hadn’t been paying... 2007-06-04T13:08:52Z https://kfitz.info/welcome-almost/ The transition to WordPress has thus far gone fairly well, and what you see is roughly the site you’ll see once I’m done. However, I’ve got one significant problem that’s going to require me to go offline briefly this morning, I think: I... 2007-06-03T18:20:51Z https://kfitz.info/aaaaargh/ mod_rewrite is determined to kill me. Here’s what I managed to figure out: I can use mod_rewrite to rewrite my URLs from... 2007-06-02T20:22:22Z https://kfitz.info/because-i-am-precisely-that-nuts/ And because I didn’t feel like working today: I managed to find a way to export my content from ExpressionEngine and import it into WordPress. And I’ve found a theme I rather like, and futzed with it until I like it even better. And I’ve gotten... 2007-06-01T15:50:01Z https://kfitz.info/one-thousand-one/ Hey! Regardless of what my permalinks seem to tell you, that last entry was entry number 1000 here at Planned Obsolescence. It took me a little less than five years to get here, but it’s a nice week for the milestone, given my hopes for returning... 2007-06-01T15:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/social-entrepreneurship-and-design/ For the last year or so, I’ve been an extended faculty member of Claremont Graduate University’s School of Information Systems and Technology, though that affiliation has been mostly theoretical to... 2007-05-31T14:06:00Z https://kfitz.info/blog-dammit/ I finished up the looming-deadline project a full two days early, I’m happy to report, and am now turning to other phases of my summer work. I’ve got a zillion things I hope to accomplish, ranging from lots of MediaCommons stuff (with the goal of... 2007-05-31T01:11:00Z https://kfitz.info/trackbacks-rip/ Today, somebody figured out how to overcome my trackback URL randomization and leave me 20-plus spam trackbacks. All from different IP addresses.
Here marks the (hopefully temporary) end of trackbacks on Planned Obsolescence.
A big... 2007-05-22T19:03:00Z https://kfitz.info/procrastination/ Major editorial project due June 1. Approximately 50% of work on project remains ahead of me. I hate deadlines. 2007-05-21T12:48:00Z https://kfitz.info/home-again/ We’ve made it back to Claremont, a little less than a week after I set off for Louisiana. The trip was a whirlwind: I arrived there Monday night, R.’s movers showed up Tuesday morning, we finished last details there (and I spent some time with my... 2007-05-13T12:45:00Z https://kfitz.info/graduation-day/ It’s graduation day here in Claremont, and for the first time ever we’re holding the ceremony outside, where it promises to be 75 and sunny and breezy, rather than in the big auditorium, where it is invariably non-airconditioned, stuffy, crowded,... 2007-05-04T12:28:00Z https://kfitz.info/still-not-dead/ Just grading. Classes ended Wednesday, senior grades are due today, and graduation’s in a little over a week. I’ve been completely buried under a big pile of end of semester work for the last several weeks, and I’m just now beginning to see a bit... 2007-04-20T11:34:00Z https://kfitz.info/hastac-11/ The notes that follow are entirely my fault, and not at all the fault of the speakers. That said, I’m going to attempt to give a sense of what I take from various sessions at the conference. Various talks are available via webcast at 2007-04-19T14:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/call-me-needle/ In Houston, on my way to North Carolina for HASTAC. If you’re there, look me up. And with any luck, there might be actual posting from the scene. 2007-04-16T16:10:00Z https://kfitz.info/good-lord/ I don’t think I know anyone at Virginia Tech. But if any of you are there, I hope you and your colleagues and loved ones are okay.
We actually had a psycho-on-campus drill earlier this semester, and... 2007-04-15T20:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/reserves-depleted/ To say that I’ve been a bad blogger of late is to underestimate the situation pretty seriously. There have been moments, over the course of the spring, when I’ve wondered if I was losing interest in blogging. In fact, I think the paucity of... 2007-04-09T16:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/apply-directly-to-the-forehead/ This is just to say that the guys who are tearing down the building that is directly outside my office window–and, conveniently, directly outside the window of the classroom where I’ll be spending two and a half hours this afternoon–are currently... 2007-04-08T15:31:00Z https://kfitz.info/at-last-almost/ R.’s been here for the last week, hanging out during his spring break, taking care of some odds and ends. It was fabulous having him here, as it always is, and somewhat hard taking him to the airport this morning.
But only somewhat. Because... 2007-03-31T13:24:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-effects/ Timothy Burke has posted one of the most sensible assessments I’ve seen of the problems with “effects” research, spurred on by the vastly over-reported study recently released suggesting a... 2007-03-30T11:26:00Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-updates/ Earlier this week, I spent a couple of days on the Jersey shore with the guys from the Institute for the Future of the Book, my MediaCommons... 2007-03-30T02:08:00Z https://kfitz.info/times-arrow-but-not-in-a-martin-amisy-way/ I cannot stop looking at this. There’s something about the flatness of the subjects’ affect (apparently a learned pose, which sinks in sometime around age 4) and something about... 2007-03-24T13:51:00Z https://kfitz.info/you-have-the-right-to-an-apology/ There’s been a lot of talk about the need for an Air Traveler’s Bill of Rights of late, particularly since February’s 2007-03-23T20:20:00Z https://kfitz.info/punishing-california/ Or, Threatening Other States Not to Follow Our Lead:
I’ve long been aggravated by gas prices in California, prices that, where I live, average about 30 cents a gallon more than prices for comparable fuel in Louisiana. But I’ve always known... 2007-03-22T01:04:00Z https://kfitz.info/your-dates-over-mister/ Good grief, do I love these women. 2007-03-20T22:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-ed-board-meeting/ What little time I’ve got these days, outside of teaching, preparing to teach, grading, feeling guilty about not grading, and going to meetings, is being spent getting ready for next week’s 2007-03-16T16:11:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-ethics-of-class-blogs/ Grrr. I’m having an utterly infuriating time with air-l, one of the listservs that I’m subscribed to, because my subscription was apparently set up from my actual technical email address (which has a login id composed of a seemingly random... 2007-03-15T02:08:00Z https://kfitz.info/thats-better/ I’m positively breathless about it all: we worked all morning, and then we went out to lunch today, and lunch had spices in it, and then we went shopping, and then I finished my grading, and then we went to the pool! And now we’re going... 2007-03-14T18:17:00Z https://kfitz.info/its-about-time/ A quick post to say thanks to Chuck for letting me know that the New York Times has finally made its Times Select features 2007-03-13T20:02:00Z https://kfitz.info/take-two/ So, we were able to get out and take a bit of a walk and have a little lunch, and the walk and the lunch seem to have gone well, not least because I was able to put my finger on exactly what’s had me feeling so stifled and on the cusp of... 2007-03-13T16:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/sigh/ Two of my favorite things in the world: spring break and Hawaii. Neither has quite panned out, this go-round.
Earlier this semester, during the height of the negotiation-related stress, I made the decision to cash in a bunch of miles and... 2007-03-07T13:07:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-big-novel-redux/ I’m teaching my Big Novel class for the second time this semester, having struggled a bit while teaching it the first time during Spring... 2007-03-04T12:57:00Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-life/ One can only hope. It appears that the various crises that resulted in my protracted silence have now all passed, and that I can do at least a little, partial explaining, and then get back — schedule willing — to something approaching blogging as... 2007-02-13T13:52:00Z https://kfitz.info/from-youtube-to-youniversity/ Henry Jenkins has a new article in this morning’s Chronicle of Higher Education, suggesting the ways that the field of media studies needs to shift in... 2007-02-13T03:47:00Z https://kfitz.info/gosh-is-she-ever-going-to-start-blogging-again/ Perhaps after I finish with this week’s four department meetings and two program meetings. Not to mention the departmental social event, and the conference call, and the two one-on-one meetings, and the lecture.
And then there’s that little... 2007-02-09T20:17:00Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons-update/ Incidentally, one thing that I can write about is MediaCommons, which is making fabulous progress. We’ve migrated the site to a new, much more flexible platform (multi-user WordPress), we’ve got In Media Res going full-bore, with new... 2007-02-07T12:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/admitting-the-obvious/ I’m apparently on something of a hiatus, at the moment. In part it’s due to the issues I last wrote about (I’m too busy for much of interest to happen, and what of interest is happening, I can’t write about), but it’s also in part due to the fact... 2007-01-28T17:31:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-curse-of-the-confidential-and-the-tedious/ Part of the recent silence has been produced by the fact that everything I’ve been doing over the last however many days it’s been since I got back to Claremont (just checked; it’s eleven. I can’t decide if it seems like it’s been more or less... 2007-01-28T16:48:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-trail/ So apparently what it takes to get me something to blog about is leaving town. I’m traveling today, and am currently sitting in a Crown Room in Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport. Sitting 100 feet due in front of me is John... 2007-01-23T18:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/im-not-dead-yet/ I’ve honestly just been too busy even to contemplate blogging, much less to write anything. (Or even read anything; I’m about as out of touch with bloglandia as I’ve been anytime in the last five years.) I’m hoping to get caught up enough to... 2007-01-15T09:25:00Z https://kfitz.info/halfway-back/ I’m currently here, doing this. The return to the U.S. was only moderately painful... 2007-01-13T04:34:00Z https://kfitz.info/against-phalloblogocentrism/ A bit belatedly, a post mostly serving to bookmark for myself Scott McLemee’s IHE column growing out of the MLA blogging panel, with a very interesting conversation... 2007-01-09T19:06:00Z https://kfitz.info/sign-me-up-already/ Yes, I’ve drunk the koolaid. But holy crap. That’s all I’m sayin’. 2007-01-09T13:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/hail-fellow-almost-met/ An MLA moment I haven’t written about, as yet: I had three and a half minutes between meetings, at one point, and so I grabbed the laptop and headed for the corridor in the conference center, where there was a nice strong free wifi signal. Just as... 2007-01-04T10:03:01Z https://kfitz.info/on-pleasure/ File this under “things I really ought to have read a long time ago, but am just now getting to”: I’ve spent the last few days slowly working my way through The Pleasure of the Text. And I... 2007-01-03T09:29:01Z https://kfitz.info/and-back-again/ This has been a weird month. Weird enough that my last transatlantic flight seemed astonishingly easy. Heck, weird enough that I can use a phrase like “my last transatlantic flight.” ?áa suffit.
(Not incidentally, somewhere along the line... 2007-01-01T07:01:01Z https://kfitz.info/happy-new-year/ Greetings from Paris! I’ll attempt to catch up on The Story Thus Far later today. For now, a warm welcome to 2007, and best wishes that it be a happy, healthy, and fruitful year for us all. 2006-12-29T10:25:01Z https://kfitz.info/report-from-the-blogger-meetup/ Folks I’d met before, whom I was happy to see again:
— Chuck;
— John;
— Scott;
— 2006-12-29T02:41:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-mla-day-2/ Today was a heck of a day at the MLA. I actually experienced the conference, and the way it was meant to be experienced, I think.
In part, I mean having had a full night’s sleep, which was blissful and amazing, and which I hope to repeat... 2006-12-28T08:50:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-mla-thus-far/ It’s pretty much been a non-MLA, due to complete and total physical collapse. When I arrived in Philadelphia, after the shuttle bus, the first plane, the shuttle bus, the second plane, the “air train,” the real train, and the cab, I checked into... 2006-12-26T06:13:01Z https://kfitz.info/its-the-most-ridiculous-time-of-the-year/ I woke up this morning around 3.30, almost on purpose–my wake-up call was set for 4.30, so I went ahead and got out of bed, rather than spend an hour wondering if I were going to fall asleep and miss the alarm. R. walked me downstairs around 5.15,... 2006-12-25T06:47:01Z https://kfitz.info/beginning-again/ Amusingly enough, my very last post of 2005 was about the difficulities of beginning a new large-scale project. That project, which I planned on spending my sabbatical with during spring 2006, got somewhat overcome by... 2006-12-25T05:19:01Z https://kfitz.info/merry-christmas-from-prague/ I’m now completely convinced that this place really is the capital of Christmaslandia. And I mean that in a good way. All week, we’ve wandered out in the evenings to see the families and the friends enjoying the Christmas market, with its festival... 2006-12-24T03:37:01Z https://kfitz.info/five-things-you-quite-possibly-dont-know-about-me/ The good news is that I get spared most memes; for whatever reason, they seem to pass me by. Liz just tagged me with this one, though, and since she... 2006-12-22T12:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/thats-just-mean/ After waking up at 3 this morning, utterly unable to sleep, and after struggling both before and after lunch to take a stupid nap, but finding myself too exhausted, and thus too hopped-up, to doze off, I finally fell asleep for a little while this... 2006-12-22T04:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-failure-of-open-peer-review/ About six months ago, I published a lengthy post, both on Planned Obsolescence and on if:book, about the future of... 2006-12-22T02:03:01Z https://kfitz.info/decalage-horaire/ Our first full day in Prague was spent in a state of mild to moderate delirium. After we finally arrived at the hotel on the evening of the 18th, R. and I found some food, drank a couple of beers, wandered briefly through the Christmas market in... 2006-12-20T06:45:01Z https://kfitz.info/waiting-for-the-bomb-squad/ [This post was written on 19 December; internet access has been a bit non-ideal, so things are coming on a bit of a time delay.]
I hate to admit it, but Meg’s right: I’m clearly cursed. I want very much to say that I make an exceedingly... 2006-12-16T11:26:01Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-have-the-best-boyfriend-ever-in-one-short-sentence/ “That new haircut really makes you look thin.” 2006-12-11T21:31:01Z https://kfitz.info/whats-wrong-with-this-phrase/ With apologies to the student who wrote it: I know something is wrong with what follows, but I can’t quite make my brain kick up information about what and why.

9% of the Senate consists of women…

When you... 2006-12-10T17:15:01Z https://kfitz.info/how-not-to-get-there/ I took a fairly long drive west yesterday, to go to a barbeque hosted by Bitch Ph.D. and attended by some other bloggy folks... 2006-12-05T14:12:01Z https://kfitz.info/in-memoriam-literati/ Ben has opened a discussion over at if:book about Gore Vidal’s recent BookForum interview, in which, among other... 2006-12-05T13:58:01Z https://kfitz.info/theres-supposed-to-be-a-lull/ This is supposed to be a relatively slow week, the quiet before the storm: classes end tomorrow, and I won’t have any substantive grading to do until Friday, most likely. Pre-registration is done. Meetings are winding down. I’m supposed to have... 2006-11-27T12:42:01Z https://kfitz.info/and-because-that-isnt-enough/ (image missing)
This is a slightly blurred screenshot of my actual calendar, for this week, Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 9.30 pm. This is only scheduled events, and doesn’t take into account stuff like getting ready for class, or... 2006-11-27T02:11:01Z https://kfitz.info/teach-thyself/ Thanksgiving was lovely, if much too fast. I spent a fair percentage of it just clearing my head and attempting to improve my attitude.
And I’ve been moderately successful. Though I’ve had my moments of extreme grouchitude of late, I’m not... 2006-11-24T12:08:01Z https://kfitz.info/us-copyright-office-announces-new-exemptions/ (crossposted from making MediaCommons: )
Via Jeremy Butler and the SCMS-TV list comes news that the U.S. Copyright Office announced... 2006-11-20T13:29:01Z https://kfitz.info/deep-breath/ Today’s going to be filled with nuttiness. And this time tomorrow, I’m going to be over halfway to Houston, on my way to BTR for Thanksgiving. I’m having one of those moments where I’m just not sure how everything that needs to be done between now... 2006-11-18T23:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/from-mckenzie-wark-g4m3r-7h30ry/ From “Agony”:

Even critical theory, which once took its distance from damaged life, becomes another game. Apply to top ranked schools. Find a good... 2006-11-17T14:15:01Z https://kfitz.info/whew/ There is very little in the world like waking up on Friday and realizing you’ve survived the week, and that it was not even half as bad as you expected.
I’ve got a pretty ridiculous amount of reading that needs to get done this weekend,... 2006-11-15T21:18:01Z https://kfitz.info/now-this-is-what-i-want-to-sing-next-year-in-choir/ The Helsinki Complaints Choir: 2006-11-15T16:04:01Z https://kfitz.info/faculty-lecture/ I’ve discovered something today: either I was a whole lot braver eight years ago, or a whole lot dumber. I’m giving a talk in our faculty lecture series in about an hour. The last time I did this was during my first year here at the college. And I... 2006-11-14T14:56:01Z https://kfitz.info/air-ipod/ Apple Teams Up With Air France, Continental, Delta, Emirates, KLM & United to Deliver iPod Integration.

CUPERTINO, California–November 14, 2006–Apple¬Æ... 2006-11-14T13:57:01Z https://kfitz.info/notes-on-making-mediacommons/ making MediaCommons is up and rolling, but we really need your help. One of our major benefactors is watching the planning site carefully, using it as a metric to gauge potential future... 2006-11-13T15:19:01Z https://kfitz.info/whine/ Thanks to all of you who commented and emailed yesterday and this morning; sympathetic noises were much desired, and much appreciated. Yesterday’s post arose, obviously, out of a well of frustration, both with the core situation and with my... 2006-11-12T18:05:01Z https://kfitz.info/days-i-wish-i-were-anonymous/ The thing that has taken up the vast majority of my time this semester — and something on the order of 95% of my emotional energy — is something I absolutely, positively cannot write about. Not even in allegorized form. And it’s less of an... 2006-11-08T14:08:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-morning-after/ (cross-posted from making MediaCommons)
No doubt like many of you, I spent much of my evening last night glued to my television set, flipping between CNN and the networks, trying to keep... 2006-11-07T23:21:01Z https://kfitz.info/so-far-so-good/ Senate races in Ohio, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania appear to have gone to the Democrats. I am, however, not counting my chickens as yet. I’m still waiting for the after-10-pm-PST-election-day surprise, which has bitten us in the ass too many times... 2006-11-06T13:17:01Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-making-mediacommons/ As I mentioned during Flow, the guys at the Institute for the Future of the Book have helped my co-editor Avi Santo and I me create a 2006-11-04T21:39:01Z https://kfitz.info/guess-what-i-did-yesterday/ My hairdresser was so impressed with the enormous pile of hair surrounding me after my cut yesterday that I had to take a picture of it. She decided to put the broom and the scoop... 2006-11-01T20:05:01Z https://kfitz.info/you-decide/ She’s at it again. I’ve just gotten an email message from tagged.com asking me to confirm my new account with them. I didn’t sign up for any such account. And it’s the same bloody... 2006-10-31T19:16:01Z https://kfitz.info/squishy-cow/ Some time back, I emailed the Accordion Guy, asking to be added to his list of folks who wanted a squishy cow of... 2006-10-31T03:42:01Z https://kfitz.info/im-just-saying/ The person who happened upon The Anxiety of Obsolescence by googling how long to bleed to death lacerated liver has me quite worried. 2006-10-30T02:15:01Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-why-i-love-computers/ What I know about music honestly (as George once said here) would not fill the thimble of a small-fingered seamstress. But 2006-10-29T10:34:01Z https://kfitz.info/notes-from-flow-academic-publishing-for-the-digital-age/ Notes from my session at Flow, below the fold. I’ll be cross-posting these at making MediaCommons shortly.
saturday, 28 october
session 3: academic publishing for the digital... 2006-10-29T10:17:01Z https://kfitz.info/notes-from-flow-watching-television-off-television/ More notes from a very interesting session of Flow.
session 3: watching television off-television
will brooker: watching television on download; removing program from television flow and moving it into larger flow (“overflow”);... 2006-10-28T13:04:01Z https://kfitz.info/notes-from-flow-on-taste/ I’m posting some of my notes from yesterday’s sessions here. These notes should be taken primarily as my impressions of the conversations that took place; any misimpressions created by these notes are solely the fault of yours... 2006-10-27T16:58:01Z https://kfitz.info/making-making-mediacommons/ Greetings from Austin, and the Flow conference. Things here have been fabulous so far — the conference organizers have developed a great new open format, in which brief papers were posted online,... 2006-10-25T11:34:01Z https://kfitz.info/meeting-aunt-b/ Happily, two other things have happened in the last couple of days that have begun to turn my mood around a bit, diminishing the stress somewhat and making it all seem, if not exactly bearable, at least worthwhile. One was meeting up with a... 2006-10-24T13:59:01Z https://kfitz.info/thank-you-dmv/ I’m reeling. Absolutely astonished. My worldview has been shaken to its core.
I wanted to write about this over the weekend, but held off, afraid that the release of the first part of this story onto the internets might result in a... 2006-10-22T13:13:01Z https://kfitz.info/is-managing-really-what-we-want/ Yesterday’s presentations were overall quite provocative, and have been wonderfully blogged by Bryan, James, and 2006-10-21T12:58:01Z https://kfitz.info/open-and-closed/ This morning’s first talk, by John Appley and Albert Borroni of Oberlin College, raises a very interesting problem: as the LMS becomes increasingly popular, its functionality will be increasingly desired by groups and organizations (such as... 2006-10-20T21:39:01Z https://kfitz.info/a-loose-assortment-of-annoying-tools/ Ooh, boy, is this going to be interesting. I’m arguing in my presentation tomorrow that (in a very small nutshell) the so-called “learning management system” is not about learning at all; it’s content management, sure, but active learning... 2006-10-20T20:14:01Z https://kfitz.info/nitle-symposium/ I’m in Portland for the weekend, attending a NITLE symposium on Learning Management Systems in the Liberal Arts College at Reed. It promises to be interesting, not least at the moment when I stand up and say... 2006-10-16T22:27:01Z https://kfitz.info/where-ive-been-and-where-im-likely-to-be/ While the panic has subsided (in no small part due to my having woken the fuck up and said NO, thank you, to a new administrative task that I was being asked to take on), my workload has not diminished. If anything, the... 2006-10-10T09:49:01Z https://kfitz.info/panic-or-something-close-to-it/ I completely collapsed again last night, apparently not as recovered from my jet lag as I’d thought. I was dead asleep before 10 pm last night — but then woke up in a cold sweat sometime before 2 am. A serious cold sweat — I actually had to move... 2006-10-08T20:42:01Z https://kfitz.info/la-retour/ I’m back in SoCal, and so is my suitcase, though it decided to take a little breather in Houston halfway through the journey. (So yes, for those of you keeping score at home, I’ve now had a bag delayed two out of the last three times I’ve checked... 2006-10-05T09:59:01Z https://kfitz.info/media-life/ Right before I left for Paris and Vienna, I did an email interview with a writer from Media Life magazine who was working on an article about The... 2006-10-03T10:42:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-23/ Panel 3
Anne Bartlett-Bragg and Ricardo Cambiassi
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
anne bartlett-bragg
“reflections on pedagogy: understanding adult learners’ experiences of... 2006-10-03T10:13:01Z https://kfitz.info/my-blogtalk-talk/ So the talk went extremely well, I think; I got some good, challenging questions that I’m looking forward to pondering at some length. And I’d point you toward the talk, so that I could get more feedback from you guys, too–but, at least at this... 2006-10-03T05:45:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-22/ Panel 1
Elmine Wijnia & Ton Zijlstra and
Uldis Bojars, John G. Breslin & Alexandre Passant
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
Elmine Wijnia & Ton Zijlstra
“the... 2006-10-03T05:05:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-21/ Keynote 1
Rod Smith (IBM) on Mashups
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
evolution of applications–diy web
new vein of ‘instant’ web appliations connecting and aggregating... 2006-10-03T04:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-day-2/ Did I mention that the presentations are available on video? They’re generally posted within several minutes of being completed. Which means that mine should ostensibly be up by around 12.30ish CET.... 2006-10-02T12:29:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-17/ Panel 5: Frank Mantek and Jeremy Ruston
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
panel 5
frank mantek
“the google data api”
ways software can suck
apis hinder usage... 2006-10-02T11:28:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-16/ Panel 4: Wolfgang Zeglovits and Raymond Elferink & Graham Atwell
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
wolfgang zeglovits
“the practice of social software development: case... 2006-10-02T10:42:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-15/ Keynote 2: Matt Mullenweg, “WordPress and Jazz”
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
“Originality’s the thing. You can have tone and technique…” –Lester Young
— originality’s... 2006-10-02T08:30:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-14/ Panel 3: Alexandre Passant and Suw Charman
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
alexandre passant (philippe laublet and jean-david sta)
“folksonomies, ontologies, and corporate... 2006-10-02T07:32:01Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-13/ Panel 2: Lee Bryant and Dieter Rappold
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
lee bryant, “building a social interface onto corporate systems”
headshift ( 2006-10-02T05:58:00Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-12/ Panel 1: Adolfo Estallela and Jan Schmidt
(tags: blogtalkreloaded)
adolfo estallela
“blogs, from communicative to connective artifacts”
cannot reduce blogs to... 2006-10-02T05:37:00Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk-reloaded-11/ I’m going to attempt to blog as much of the conference as I can. This is the usual caveat about the fact that what follows is my notes from these talks; any flaws in my representations of papers or conversations are mine, and not those of the... 2006-10-01T10:19:00Z https://kfitz.info/ont-to-iah-to-cdg-to-vie/ I haven’t exactly recovered from my décalage horaire yet, but the trip thus far has gone quite well. I got up at 4 am on Thursday and was, thankfully, ready to go when my cab showed up 20 minutes early. I had about an hour to kill in ONT,... 2006-09-27T18:06:02Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-cms/ JD asked me the other day about my experiences using Sakai, and how I liked it as compared with something like Moodle. This is something I’ve been... 2006-09-24T14:07:02Z https://kfitz.info/imminent-blogtalk/ I’ve spent the last three days madly working on the article from which my talk at BlogTalk will be drawn. And late last night, as I was trying to fall asleep, it hit me: I’m leaving for Europe on... 2006-09-20T21:39:00Z https://kfitz.info/i-got-nothing/ Except looming deadlines, and deadlines already past. I’ll be back with more scintillating thoughts soon, I hope. 2006-09-17T18:34:59Z https://kfitz.info/a-dreary-little-tale-of-the-grocery-store/ Every once in a great while, I get home from the grocery store and discover that they’ve failed to bag something I bought. It’s always annoying, but never worth returning to the store for whatever it was they left out.
Today, for the first... 2006-09-12T16:08:02Z https://kfitz.info/studio-60/ Thanks to Liz and Lori, I spent a chunk of last night watching a little, tiny... 2006-09-11T23:33:02Z https://kfitz.info/best-war-ever/ I want to call attention to this for ever so many reasons, not least among them that it’s perhaps the first effective trailer for a book that I’ve ever seen. 2006-09-11T20:33:00Z https://kfitz.info/tick-tick-tick/ Why do things like this only ever happen when you’re late?
I was on my way to the office today, running late after having dragged my heels all morning. I’m not sure quite what was wrong, but I really didn’t want to get dressed and leave the... 2006-09-11T14:23:02Z https://kfitz.info/chicken-meet-egg/ Here’s a bit of irony*: Chest pain is a primary symptom of a heart attack. A panic attack can produce chest pain that mimics that of a heart attack. But other kinds of chest pain can produce the symptoms of a panic attack, as you freak out over... 2006-09-09T18:22:02Z https://kfitz.info/ridiculous-question-i-should-have-long-since-learned-the-answer-to/ Say you’re quoting a passage from a text, and within that passage, the author uses a parenthetical citation to refer to another text. Do you:
(a) Quote the passage exactly as printed in the text, including the citation?
(b) Quote the... 2006-09-09T17:52:02Z https://kfitz.info/former-students-make-good/ So I really honestly did add them to my blogroll a couple of hours before Liz popped up in the comments, and had made a note-to-self to post an actual bloggy link this afternoon, before... 2006-09-09T14:56:02Z https://kfitz.info/what-exactly-is-the-deal-with-technorati/ This time last week, something on the order of 72 blogs apparently linked here; today, it’s 58. (I’ve also dropped from a nice, solid rank of 36,000ish to well into the... 2006-09-08T13:34:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-fakery-and-fictiveness/ So word is spreading throughout the blogosphere this morning that the 2006-09-08T12:41:01Z https://kfitz.info/graduate-employee-strike-abandoned/ Good lord, but this is depressing.
So depressing, in fact, that I can’t even comment any further. 2006-09-04T12:11:01Z https://kfitz.info/kfitzpatrick/ I just did something that was either absolute genius or pretty much evil. Or maybe just borderline stupid.
There’s someone out there, someone young and female, who is convinced that my mac.com email address is... 2006-09-01T13:54:01Z https://kfitz.info/linky-update/ You might not have noticed without my pointing it out, but several of the links at right have changed. I now have my very own subdomain for networked teaching projects, machines.pomona.edu, and so I’ve... 2006-08-31T11:41:59Z https://kfitz.info/bleh/ Someday I will discover the secret to making the first day of class not desperately dull. Alas, I haven’t figured it out yet. The dullness has in part to do with the emphasis on policy-download during that first session, which is simply tedious,... 2006-08-29T19:17:02Z https://kfitz.info/file-that-under-ouch/ In his new memoir, “The Discomfort Zone,” Mr. Franzen turns his unforgiving eye on himself and succeeds in giving us an odious self-portrait of the artist as a young jackass: petulant, pompous, obsessive, selfish and overwhelmingly... 2006-08-29T12:37:01Z https://kfitz.info/potty-mouth/ As long as I’m on the subject: one of the things that I actually have spent a bit of time worrying about — worrying, mind you, but not enough to really do anything about it — since I discovered among my readership a number of folks in... 2006-08-27T12:06:00Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-professional-life/ I’ve had a few conversations about this here website of late, conversations with folks who seem uncomfortable with the personal nature of some of what I’ve blogged here. Nobody’s upset with me about having been indiscreet, or about having said... 2006-08-23T08:53:00Z https://kfitz.info/okay-make-with-the-good-wishes-already/ It’s not to be helped or avoided at this point: it’s my birthday. The first one I’ve really dreaded in about… well, in pretty much precisely a decade. Interestingly, it’s not a big round number type birthday, but the one before it, which to my way... 2006-08-22T00:41:00Z https://kfitz.info/da-na-dah-da-na-dah/ Okay, (a): Did you realize that Rocky is, and I shit you not, thirty years old, this year?
(b): Did you know that it was possible, tonight, somewhere in the world, to sit outside... 2006-08-20T18:40:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-new-york-times-aka-the-al-qaeda-newsletter-and-coupon-book/ On another note: what the New York Times looks like to the Right, courtesy of the Huffington Post. Make sure you roll over the masthead a few times. (Hat tip: 2006-08-20T18:30:00Z https://kfitz.info/guilt-and-exhaustion/ So I’m on the road again, in NYC, and I’m desperately trying to get done at least a small fraction of the stuff that has to be completed by a week from Tuesday. In the meantime, I’m completely exhausted from all the travel–my body clock is pretty... 2006-08-17T14:20:02Z https://kfitz.info/grading-policy/ After a particularly obnoxious argument over a final grade a couple of semesters ago, I decided to dramatically revamp the grading policy that I include in all my syllabi. The dispute made clear to me that certain students (by no means all... 2006-08-15T12:43:07Z https://kfitz.info/free-of-duty/ There’s good news, for me, at least: because, on returning to the U.S., one goes through customs on the Canadian side of the border, and because one can’t check one’s suitcase until after customs, one goes through the duty-free store dragging... 2006-08-15T09:25:00Z https://kfitz.info/to-delete-or-not-to-delete/ I spent much of last night lying awake, primarily suffering under what I’m pretty sure was a bit of bad salmon. I wasn’t anywhere near as sick as I could have been, but I did at one point wonder whether TSA would let me board my plane today if the... 2006-08-14T17:55:00Z https://kfitz.info/paging-walter-kirn/ Or anyone with Walter Kirn’s mailing address. I’ve got a book I’d like to send... 2006-08-14T17:24:01Z https://kfitz.info/productivity-on-the-road/ I’ve written before about how productive I manage to be while I’m on the road, whether it’s a matter of working on planes or in hotels (something I’d swear I’ve blogged, but can’t find an appropriate link for... 2006-08-13T11:06:59Z https://kfitz.info/other-peoples-conferences-part-two/ So I’m in Montreal for the American Sociological Association meeting, where we’re doing some interviewing. I have to reiterate that there’s something lovely about attending conferences for organizations to which you do not belong, but in this case... 2006-08-11T19:23:59Z https://kfitz.info/so-i-totally-lied/ No way I can leave it at that. Not when there’s so much more to tell.
So I left my house at 5 am yesterday, headed to LAX. The morning began with two bits of dumb luck: first, that the trip to Montreal is going to last five days, and thus I... 2006-08-10T11:10:02Z https://kfitz.info/yeesh/ I’ll just say that today was not the ideal day to fly out of LAX, and leave it at that. 2006-08-09T17:19:01Z https://kfitz.info/how-to-do-things-with-words/ …and why it matters. Two unrelated links:
meg on the meaning of the phrase “WT,” and how those who use it might benefit from learning to diagram sentences.
And 2006-08-07T12:19:00Z https://kfitz.info/other-peoples-conferences/ I’ve been in San Diego with my mother since Friday; she’s here for a conference, and I’m here as her date. The conference is that of a national organization that links a bunch of state and local organizations that are in the business of dealing... 2006-08-04T12:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/free-advice-from-aunt-b/ And it’s really good advice, too: how to write an academic book that folks might actually want to read.
Though she doesn’t quite say... 2006-08-02T19:14:01Z https://kfitz.info/ways-in-which-today-sucks/ 1. I was awake from approximately 1.30 am to approximately 5.00 am, for no apparent reason. And when the sun rose, and when the construction guys commenced jackhammering outside my bedroom window, I was awake again. And none too happy about it, I... 2006-08-01T16:18:00Z https://kfitz.info/a-funny-thing-happened-on-the-way-to-somewhere-or-other/ I’m not sure I ever publicly admitted this, but over the last year-plus, while I was contemplating this past spring’s leave and the work that I’d do then, I’d pretty much concluded that my next major project was going to be more creative in scope... 2006-07-31T13:30:00Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-the-end/ Sigh. My end-of-summer blues have kicked in full-force today. They’ve arrived at a moment that no doubt seems premature, but really, everything’s rushing to a close. R. is leaving Friday, ending a fabulous seven-month stretch together. I hit the... 2006-07-28T13:25:00Z https://kfitz.info/cyberinfrastructure-and-the-humanities/ I’m still running pretty much a day behind–meant to post this yesterday, but never got to it. In any event, and in a hurry:
The Chronicle reported yesterday that the ACLS had... 2006-07-27T12:32:01Z https://kfitz.info/more-from-mediacommons/ I’m a day late on this — finishing that draft and other emergencies got in my way — but I want nonetheless to direct your attention to MediaCommons... 2006-07-26T14:08:00Z https://kfitz.info/its-a-draft/ A bouncing baby draft, and not a moment too soon.
I’ve got a long list of other tasks that need doing, a list that has had me feeling increasingly anxious over the last couple of weeks. Perhaps I’m a little slow on the uptake, but it took... 2006-07-25T15:19:00Z https://kfitz.info/current-stats/ The article draft nears completion: I’m at 32 pages, with about two pages to go. And then a whole heckuva lot of editing and revision. So lots of work to go, but oh, the bliss of knowing that there will shortly be an object with which I’m... 2006-07-24T12:58:01Z https://kfitz.info/want-to-see-my-picture-on-the-cover/ …on the cover of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Not quite the same ring to it, alas. And it’s not like I’m there yet, thankfully, but I’m close.
Today’s cover story... 2006-07-23T15:49:01Z https://kfitz.info/one-hundred-twelve/ As in degrees.
As in temperature, not heat index.
As in yesterday’s high here in Claremont.
They’re predicting 107 for today, but they’ve been consistently five or six degrees low on their predictions all... 2006-07-21T13:23:02Z https://kfitz.info/progress-sorta/ I’m now 28 pages into an article that I wanted to be around 25 pages long, and I’ve got at least another 5 pages of analysis and conclusion to write before the thing is complete. Annoyingly, the first 20-ish pages of the article hold together... 2006-07-19T14:18:02Z https://kfitz.info/search-inside/ Hey, this is cool: the Amazon page for The Anxiety of Obsolescence now has “Search Inside” capability. So now, in addition to the bits of text I put up... 2006-07-19T12:04:59Z https://kfitz.info/initial-responses-to-mediacommons/ Ben Vershbow has posted a nice round-up of the reaction, over the last couple of days, to Monday’s MediaCommons announcement. There’s also a... 2006-07-17T10:33:01Z https://kfitz.info/introducing-mediacommons/ (cross-posted from if:book)
I’ve got the somewhat daunting pleasure of introducing the readers of if:book to one of the Institute’s... 2006-07-15T17:28:02Z https://kfitz.info/let-the-reader-beware/ There’s been a lot of hubbub about the Pynchon-speaking universe over the last couple of weeks, as Viking/Penguin let it be known that there would be a Big New Novel by the man himself released near the end of this year. I’ve been watching the... 2006-07-14T13:36:00Z https://kfitz.info/new-editorial-policy/ Hey: this site is not your own personal publicity organ. Any future comments that are clearly serving no other purpose than promoting your work–not contributing to a conversation, not responding... 2006-07-13T16:47:00Z https://kfitz.info/community-building-just-add-fire/ Sitting here at my desk in the niche on the second-floor landing a little while ago, I started to realize that I had been hearing some kind of small aircraft overhead for a few minutes. I didn’t think terribly much of it, as there’s a small... 2006-07-13T15:22:00Z https://kfitz.info/rice-university-press-20/ As I’ve mentioned several times of late (so many, in fact, that I’m not going to link; you can check out the “electrapress” category, if you’re interested), I’ve been working with the Institute for the Future of the Book this year on a project... 2006-07-13T14:07:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-key-to-the-dream-in-case-you-care/ So here’s what’s going on around here, that made my dream so open to Meg’s instant analysis: as I’ve mentioned before, my department has suffered some major losses recently, with three senior colleagues all departing at the... 2006-07-12T12:59:01Z https://kfitz.info/shoot-the-piano-player/ I had this dream the other night, which I’d almost forgotten, but which came back to me just now for a reason I’m not at all sure of. I’d been drafted to be the accompanist for some musical theater production that I was involved with. How I’d... 2006-07-11T13:25:01Z https://kfitz.info/i-am-speechless/ Here are some quotes from a pro-abortion person, Miss Caroline Weber, who wrote an article at The Onion online magazine.

The rest, you must read 2006-07-09T13:40:01Z https://kfitz.info/upcoming-travel/ Confirmed and ticketed:

August 10-15 — Montréal; American Sociological Association.*
September 28-October 6 — Paris and Vienna; BlogTalk Reloaded.**
October 26-29 — Austin; 2006-07-08T14:16:01Z https://kfitz.info/bikram-update/ I’ve been attending relatively regular Bikram yoga classes since late May, and it occurred to me yesterday that the time might have come to take stock of my practice and reflect on how it’s going.
I took extremely well to Bikram right off... 2006-07-07T14:25:00Z https://kfitz.info/student-use-of-wikipedia/ Via if:book, an interesting draft policy statement proposed by Alan Liu on 2006-07-05T23:40:02Z https://kfitz.info/how-pissed-am-i/ Seriously pissed.
Remember this?
It just broke again.
And it’s got the disc we were watching last night — disk 3 of 6 of season 3 of 24 — stuck inside it.
I’m about to take the... 2006-07-05T22:41:02Z https://kfitz.info/what-like-beer/ Subtitle: Why I Should Not Be Allowed to Listen to the News on the Way Home from the Gym.
I swear I thought the announcer said something about an inquiry into whether Barry Bonds perjured himself by testifying under oath that he had never... 2006-07-05T14:39:58Z https://kfitz.info/managed-and-unmanaged/ Managed this week:
— Have made significant headway on article, via intensive half-hour morning sessions, and whatever little bits of time I want to add to those. Now have... 2006-06-29T12:37:00Z https://kfitz.info/there-was-something-back-there-about-practice-right/ I realized over the weekend that I’ve been struggling for so long with the article I’m writing — or, to be honest, not writing — that it’s (a) now pretty heavily overdue, and (b) threatening to take on the albatross-like status that only things I... 2006-06-28T12:39:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-future-of-peer-review-in-electronic-scholarly-publishing/ (cross-posted from if:book)
Over the last several months, as I’ve met with the folks from if:book and with the quite impressive 2006-06-27T23:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/for-once-ive-got-nothing-whatsoever-to-complain-about/ So, I’m sitting in Houston, waiting on the inbound aircraft that will take my outbound flight merrily back to the west coast. We’re going to be about an hour late. I am absolutely, positively, not complaining.
Here’s why: I don’t have the... 2006-06-26T18:45:01Z https://kfitz.info/send-me-back-to-the-desert/ It’s been a fabulous visit, but I’m about up to here with both the heat and the humidity. Not to mention the crazy fattening food, the omnipresent alcohol, and the general sloth. I think I need a week at a spa to recover from my weekend in... 2006-06-23T00:52:00Z https://kfitz.info/theres-a-story-behind-this-im-too-tired-to-tell/ Two and a half hours on the runway in Houston. Fortunately, there was beer after that. 2006-06-19T12:52:00Z https://kfitz.info/blogtalk/ I’ve had a paper accepted for this October’s BlogTalk Reloaded, and so it appears I’m headed to Vienna in October. This looks like a fascinating set of papers, from a broad range of folks doing work on and in... 2006-06-17T14:04:00Z https://kfitz.info/tagging-the-library/ Under the category of things I’ve been meaning to note for a while: David Weinberger at Many-to-Many brought my attention to 2006-06-16T14:23:00Z https://kfitz.info/moves/ We’ve suffered a series of losses in my department this semester, and are about to find ourselves in a very different department, come fall. I’ll put it this way: as... 2006-06-15T18:32:01Z https://kfitz.info/okay-now-i-believe-it/ They arrived yesterday, proving that this project, begun in 1996, is finally, one-hundred percent, completely and totally done.
Celebration commenced... 2006-06-12T18:29:01Z https://kfitz.info/housekeeping/ It’s been a week of major housekeeping since I returned from New York: first, I needed to unpack all the stuff that I moved back from Louisiana, which arrived while I was away; after that, the condo needed some serious organizing and cleaning.... 2006-06-11T15:17:00Z https://kfitz.info/how-much-do-i-fucking-love-heather-havrilesky/ A whole fucking lot.
[NOTE: It’s “Deadwood”-speak week at Salon; them with tender sensibilities should consider themselves fucking warned.] 2006-06-09T13:56:00Z https://kfitz.info/new-comment-spam-mo/ So there was a piece of comment spam loitering hereabouts for a couple of days, while I debated what to do with it. I finally deleted it, as the last thing I want is to encourage this kind of behavior. But what the culprit did is half ingenious... 2006-06-07T14:09:59Z https://kfitz.info/three-belated-notes-from-the-road/ I flew back from NYC on Monday, and have been trying to recover and unpack from the trip, as well as unpacking the stuff that arrived from Louisiana while I was gone, ever since. I’d hoped to post this sooner, but getting the house relatively... 2006-06-02T18:50:58Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-that-book/ If you live in a market that carries Wisconsin Public Radio’s To the Best of Our Knowledge, you may be able to catch me flogging The Anxiety of... 2006-06-02T14:37:00Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-am-too-dumb-to-lead-the-network-revolution/ So, I noted some time back that I’d built a website for my book, including excerpts from the text (the introduction and first chapter, the opening... 2006-06-02T11:21:00Z https://kfitz.info/another-update-from-gsoc/ This update on the strike at NYU, today, from GSOC:

Jerrold Nadler, Congressman from New York, 8th District, has... 2006-05-31T22:21:00Z https://kfitz.info/whoa/ For the first time in, oh, a little less than five years, my flight into LaGuardia today flew straight up over Manhattan. As in, I looked out my window, and there was the Empire State Building. Like right there.
I’d forgotten that... 2006-05-29T12:09:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-things-that-occur-to-me-while-im-in-the-shower/ What’s the relationship between the Kantian sublime and Freudian sublimation? Is the apparent relationship merely a coincidence of translation? Or is there some deeper connection that I’d never noticed before? It sounds as though sublimation ought... 2006-05-28T15:12:01Z https://kfitz.info/dragging-my-heels/ There’s an article that I need to write, one that, in theory at least, I’ve been at work on for some weeks. In reality, however, I never made it beyond the first day of drafting.
I’ve allowed dozens of things to... 2006-05-28T14:02:00Z https://kfitz.info/spambot-university-library/ Somebody else has noted this recently — I’m sorry I can’t remember who — but spambots are getting weirdly smarter. Another blog that I have editorial privileges on gets a fair bit of... 2006-05-27T16:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/bikram-day-2/ 90 minutes is much, much longer than 60. It’s pretty rough at that moment, when my yogalates classes would have been wrapping up, to realize that there’s still a third of the class yet to go.
On the other hand, it all feels good, with the... 2006-05-26T18:24:00Z https://kfitz.info/bikram-day-1/ Holy moly. Having settled back in here in Claremont, and having spent the last five days mourning the loss of my beloved yogalates class, I managed to cart myself down to the 2006-05-25T13:11:01Z https://kfitz.info/get-hip-to-this-timely-tip/ Having picked up the 40 in Amarillo (despite hearing that Oklahoma City is oh-so-pretty), we sped on through Gallup, New Mexico, as well as Flagstaff, Arizona (don’t forget Winona), Kingman, Barstow —
— only to rediscover the fact that the... 2006-05-22T23:26:00Z https://kfitz.info/technology-on-the-road/ 1. The rest area on Highway 287 a few miles north of Chillicothe, Texas has open wireless. I didn’t use it, but I was sorely tempted to blog from there, the middle of freaking nowhere, solely because I could.
2. I did a pre-interview with a... 2006-05-20T10:12:01Z https://kfitz.info/watching-the-net/ We’re headed out of town sometime this afternoon, starting down the road toward SoCal.
There’s not that much left to do between now and then, so I’m watching television.
Or not really television. Shows originally broadcast on... 2006-05-18T19:39:00Z https://kfitz.info/an-update-from-gsoc/ This update on the strike at NYU, today, from GSOC:

New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton... 2006-05-16T17:30:01Z https://kfitz.info/twelve-steps-will-not-cut-it/ One sure way to measure your network dependency is to live in a building in which broadband is included with your rent, and see how you respond when the Internet suddenly, completely, and inexplicably breaks. And there is nothing you can do about... 2006-05-15T15:15:00Z https://kfitz.info/seditionist-creeps/ This is one of the scariest things I’ve read in quite some time.

A senior federal law enforcement official tells ABC News the government is tracking... 2006-05-14T18:38:00Z https://kfitz.info/commencement/ Graduation just began back in Claremont, and it feels mighty weird not being there. Cooler, certainly; I’m not missing sweltering under the klieg lights in my fluorescent purple triple-knit polyester robe. But I miss the ceremony, nonetheless–miss... 2006-05-14T14:53:00Z https://kfitz.info/jazz-fest-photos/ I took a few pictures during Jazz Fest using the less crappy than you’d expect but still crappier than you’d like camera on my cell phone. They’re now up on flickr,[^1] if you’re interested. In this particular photo, you can get a good sense of... 2006-05-11T18:15:00Z https://kfitz.info/a-long-overdue-open-letter-to-john-sexton/ Dear President Sexton,
As an alumna of New York University (Ph.D. English, 1998), I receive the usual set of appeals for donations, both from the university’s annual giving fund and from other fundraising bodies within NYU. In the past, I... 2006-05-10T16:21:00Z https://kfitz.info/let-this-be-a-lesson-to-you/ This post has taken me an unconscionably long time to write. I didn’t have net access in Nassau–or, more accurately, I didn’t seek out net access in Nassau–and have had a bit of a hard time getting myself going again since I’ve been back. But at... 2006-05-04T11:10:01Z https://kfitz.info/product-placement/ On another note: last night’s Alias contained what I have to call the worst moment of product placement in the history of crass commercialism. It went something like this (names have been elided to... 2006-05-04T10:47:01Z https://kfitz.info/last-gasp/ This weekend, as others are celebrating the end of classes for the spring semester, I’m flying off to Nassau. This trip is in the main a girls’ trip, a long weekend with my mother and my sister, to be spent on the beach and by the pool and in... 2006-05-02T15:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/me-the-boss/ Or, On Not Being a Bruce Springsteen Fan.
Such a subtitle will be greeted as sacrilege by a subset of my old grad school pals, or would be if they were still reading here, as their adolescences were entirely framed by his music. My... 2006-04-30T14:31:01Z https://kfitz.info/jazz-fest/ What I had intended was a series of daily updates. Of course, I also thought that I was going to use my hotel’s gym several times this weekend, so I clearly had some misunderstandings about how general time management was going to function while... 2006-04-28T12:58:01Z https://kfitz.info/new-orleans-jazz-heritage/ I drove into New Orleans late last night, and will be heading out to Jazz Fest later this afternoon. Given the darkness, I wasn’t able to get an overall sense of the city’s state, though I did see, right... 2006-04-28T12:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/isync-and-the-verizon-cdma-razr-v3c/ Two posts this morning, the first of which makes the second one possible. Post the first:
Back in December, I think, when I first got my Verizon CDMA RAZR V3c, I found a 2006-04-26T10:24:01Z https://kfitz.info/inexplicably/ The alarm went off this morning at 4.30, waking me after a much too brief four and a half hours of sleep. I woke up groggy and dehydrated and otherwise feeling the effects of the two glasses of Shiraz I drank last night. I stumbled into the... 2006-04-24T14:38:00Z https://kfitz.info/futurology/ I’m at USC today, in a room with a bunch of smart folks, thinking about the future of academic publishing. So far, the conversation has been fascinating. I’m taking notes, and will look... 2006-04-21T15:44:00Z https://kfitz.info/beginning-the-weekend-a-little-bit-early/ Good gravy, but I’m useless on a Friday afternoon. I’ve gotten nowhere in the drafting process today, not least because my usual morning yogalates class completely and totally kicked my ass. Since then, I’ve changed... 2006-04-20T16:45:01Z https://kfitz.info/drafting/ I’m in the initial stages today of drafting an article that I’ve promised for a volume. And I’m having no fun whatsoever.
The first day of drafting is always painful: I cobble together what few thoughts I have about the article’s structure... 2006-04-19T12:57:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-repositories/ A very interesting post today by Jill Walker on institutional repositories, their benefits, and the ways that they fall short of the ideal networked publication archive she’d like. There’s of course a key... 2006-04-18T14:04:00Z https://kfitz.info/more-networked-texts/ Partially just a couple of links for my benefit; partially stuff I’d like to discuss further at a less-rushed moment:
Wendy Chun, Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber... 2006-04-17T10:22:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-wealth-of-networks/ Henry over at Crooked Timber posted over the weekend about Yochai Benkler’s new book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom,... 2006-04-13T19:16:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-anxiety-of-obsolescence/ In preparation for the release of my book (also available 2006-04-10T14:18:00Z https://kfitz.info/spring-break/ It’s spring break here in Baton Rouge; all the students in our apartment complex have decamped for the Florida coast, the restaurants are empty, traffic is light, and life is generally good. It’s been years, though, since I’ve lived in a place —... 2006-04-09T13:35:01Z https://kfitz.info/news-updates-from-the-land-of-the-shallow/ Friday afternoon, I got into the skinny pants. The ones that have been hanging in the closet for at least the last nine months, untouched. And they looked mighty fine, if I do say so myself.
(This post brought to you by the part of me that... 2006-04-07T15:11:00Z https://kfitz.info/championship/ Strange and interesting things that I have learned from the NCAA website in the course of an extended email exchange with a colleague about college sports:
1. LSU has won the... 2006-04-06T14:12:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-silence/ I have days when I really wish this blog were anonymous, or that I had another anonymous blog in which I could write without the kind of self-censorship that comes with knowing that many of my students, colleagues, and friends are reading along.... 2006-04-02T10:23:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-worst-of-it/ The worst of it is that there’s now no one left to root for in the men’s final. As I told a colleague of mine via email last week, I am constitutionally incapable of rooting for any team that comes from the state of Florida. In any sport. Call it... 2006-04-01T23:20:00Z https://kfitz.info/i-cant-watch/ It’s just too painful. I’m going out for ice cream instead. 2006-03-31T00:56:01Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-importance-of-the-collective-in-electronic-publishing/ (cross-posted at The Valve)
One of the concerns that often gets raised early in discussions of 2006-03-30T13:16:00Z https://kfitz.info/two-of-eight/ As you might guess, this week everybody’s pretty much all about the Final Four around here — both of them. It... 2006-03-28T16:23:00Z https://kfitz.info/yoga-brain/ For the last month, R. and I have been exercising a lot. A lot. And well. It’s the first time since the marathon — hell, it’s the first time since longer ago than that — that I’ve really felt in some kind of decent shape, in an all-around sense:... 2006-03-25T22:01:00Z https://kfitz.info/we-now-return-to-our-regular-cardiac-rhythm/ A philosophical question that, at the moment, seems worthy of Berkeley: would they be my Tigers without the palpitations? 2006-03-25T16:41:01Z https://kfitz.info/more-catching-up/ This has not been the most productive week ever, I have to admit. Not only did I spend a fair chunk of time watching 2006-03-24T18:48:00Z https://kfitz.info/anti-performatives/ DN points out in the comments down below that he called last night’s victory. This post is for DN:
Yeah, you totally did. I only felt safe enough to call it once Bérubé made the... 2006-03-23T23:42:00Z https://kfitz.info/thank-you-michael-berube/ From the bottom of my heart, for that most misguided first-round pick, which allowed me to snark at you in a way that the gods of March clearly heard. 2006-03-22T18:21:01Z https://kfitz.info/catching-up-with-the-rest-of-the-world/ Not only have I spent the week watching Brideshead Revisited (but on VHS; you remember VHS tapes, don’t you? I’d nearly forgotten that you have to rewind... 2006-03-20T11:21:00Z https://kfitz.info/so-much-for-suspense/ Over the last 24 hours, I’ve gotten hundreds of hits off of a pack of googlers looking for spoilers for the current season of The Sopranos. Which is odd. Here I was trying to be all scrupulous about not giving... 2006-03-19T13:01:01Z https://kfitz.info/electrapress-moving-forward/ (crossposted from ElectraPress)
As I mentioned sometime back, things have been happening behind the scenes at ElectraPress, and all that set-building and light-hanging has prevented me from... 2006-03-17T11:28:01Z https://kfitz.info/and-theyre-out-in-the-regional-semi-final/ I haven’t been paying much attention to LSU basketball this season, though my stepfather has repeatedly told me that I should. And I didn’t watch much of yesterday’s first round games in the annual celebration of Madness (except, of course, the... 2006-03-16T18:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/and-now-for-something-completely-different/ So I just got what is probably the best — and without question the cheapest — french manicure I’ve ever gotten. Weigh that on the one side.
On the other, I’m a teency bit skeeved by a couple of things. First, granted, it was 2.30 in the... 2006-03-15T23:01:01Z https://kfitz.info/categories-2006/ Hey — how come none of you guys told me that all of my category links in the archive menus were broken?
Well… they’re fixed now. 2006-03-14T19:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/is-it-just-me-or-is-this-beginning-to-sound-a-little-familiar/ Remember back when I was asking all those questions about why an FBI task force had shown up on campus asking questions of a Venezuelan-American colleague?
Can anybody say “ 2006-03-14T17:08:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-sopranos-season-6/ And yes, we need a SPOILER ALERT already…
Perhaps it’s just me, but I found myself intensely frustrated with Sunday’s season opener. I’ve felt shades of this frustration during the first episodes of... 2006-03-13T13:48:01Z https://kfitz.info/gee-now-what/ I confess to having a very bad case of “yeah, but what have I accomplished lately,” something against which I’ve struggled pretty much my entire adult life. And boy, there’s nothing like... 2006-03-12T15:05:00Z https://kfitz.info/now-to-commence-the-lying-around-reading-novels-portion-of-our-program/ The best news I’ve gotten in a long time: that the index, completed and submitted about an hour ago, is pleasing unto my publishers.
And that the next thing I’ll see from them is books.
Which means that this bloody project, begun a... 2006-03-10T22:35:00Z https://kfitz.info/further-update/ Again, via email:

To the Pomona College Community:
This afternoon, I received a phone call from the Agent in Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office of the FBI, who apologized for any disruption caused on our campus by... 2006-03-10T12:54:00Z https://kfitz.info/update/ Miguel’s story has now been picked up by the Pacific News Service.
Come on, LA Times; we’re 2006-03-09T19:39:00Z https://kfitz.info/good-grief/ This came in just now, via email:

To the Pomona College community:
On Tuesday, March 7, Miguel Tinker Salas, Arango Professor of Latin American History and Chicano Studies, was visited in his Pearsons Hall office by two... 2006-03-08T17:56:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-state-of-the-forgotten-part-of-the-union-address/ From Katrenema, a short documentary on the state of New Orleans, over six months later. It’s devastating,... 2006-03-07T15:25:00Z https://kfitz.info/things-i-really-ought-to-get-done-today/ — Finish the index, already, which is already four days overdue and still 80 pages from complete.
— Call the cable company to make sure we’ve got HBO in time for Sunday’s big 2006-03-06T12:15:00Z https://kfitz.info/thinking-about-the-m/ Last time I went to SCMS, in 2004, was I think the first conference the organization had held since the addition of the M to its name and, as I’ve snarked about before, it was pretty clear then that the M remained... 2006-03-05T23:59:01Z https://kfitz.info/while-watching-the-oscars/ Does it strike anybody else that all this “there’s no place else to really see a movie other than the big screen” stuff smacks just a teeny bit of desperation? 2006-03-05T16:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/a-moment-of-unrepentant-horn-self-tooting/ So I walk into a session after lunch on Friday, a workshop entitled “An Economy of the Gift”: Should Scholarship Be Available for Free?, where I am handed a handout. Said... 2006-03-04T12:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/documenting-the-self/ For archival purposes (as well as for anyone else interested) this is a link to the page of links I used in my talk yesterday.
As to blogging the conference: it’s been... 2006-03-02T22:50:00Z https://kfitz.info/scms-ward-bound-2006-edition/ After what seems like way more hassle than was strictly warranted for a little ERJ jaunt from BTR to IAH, I’m sitting in my favorite President’s club waiting for my flight to Vancouver and the SCMS. I’m talking about blogs, twice, in 2006-03-01T13:26:01Z https://kfitz.info/february/ Where, exactly, did it go?
February 1, I returned from a five-day trip to New York.
February 8-13, I was in SoCal.
February 21-27, I was back in SoCal.
What this means is that I got to sabbaticalize — I mean really... 2006-02-27T04:23:00Z https://kfitz.info/identity-protection-matters/ I’m not sure why, but I’m a bit obsessed with a piece of spam I got earlier today, one of the bajillions of “update your PayPal account” messages I get each week. Perhaps it’s because most of these get sucked up by 2006-02-22T22:03:00Z https://kfitz.info/shouting-down-a-well/ Gee, spend one little day traveling and the blogosphere goes a 2006-02-20T16:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/yes-still/ Have I mentioned, in my many rants about electronic... 2006-02-19T20:19:00Z https://kfitz.info/galatoires/ Taking the opportunity to gloat about being in Louisiana while I can: last night, my parents took me and my sister, who was visiting this weekend, to the new location of Galatoire’s (this one... 2006-02-19T14:29:01Z https://kfitz.info/almost-the-opposite-of-schadenfreude/ Surely there should be a Germanic compound word for this — not the shameful joy one takes in someone else’s suffering, but the feeling best captured by that Gore Vidal line, “Whenever a friend of mine succeeds, a little something in me dies.” The... 2006-02-16T19:33:00Z https://kfitz.info/indexing-bleg/ I need help with a bit of phrasing, index-wise. A bit of necessary background: at one point in the book, I discuss at length the various pronouncements of the death of the novel. These are indexed as:

death of the novel,... 2006-02-16T11:20:01Z https://kfitz.info/and-then-theres-the-other-problem/ Which is my complete and total inability to maintain focus on the index. I am much too easily distracted.
The bad news is that I’m only up to page 28. The good news is that the last five pages have introduced all of the major terms of the... 2006-02-14T20:33:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-anxiety-of-indexing/ I begin to suspect that, if anything, I’m too obsessive-compulsive for this job.
I’m on page 26 and I’ve already listed 153 items and sub-items. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to do some crafting once it’s all been done, eliminating... 2006-02-12T15:49:00Z https://kfitz.info/indexing/ Proper names, searchability of.
Titles, searchability of.
Keywords, searchability of.
Major concepts, pervasiveness of.
Major concepts, variable phrasing of.
Major concepts, searchability of, lack... 2006-02-10T13:37:01Z https://kfitz.info/more-non-rhetorical-questions/ Am I completely nuts for attempting to do my own index? Have any of you done any indexing? Do you have advice on method? 2006-02-09T11:38:00Z https://kfitz.info/homesque/ I’m back in Claremont for a few days, for a couple of departmental events. Because I’ve rented out the condo, I’m spending these few days crashed on a friend’s sofa. Not to mention hiding from anyone who might want to take advantage of my presence... 2006-02-07T11:26:01Z https://kfitz.info/party-of-one/ At some point in December, during a conversation over dinner with one of R.’s colleagues, I said something that prompted him to hand me Anneli Rufus’s 2006-02-06T12:10:08Z https://kfitz.info/anxiety-obsolescence-etc/ So the forthcoming book now has a page at B&N.com and 2006-02-03T18:07:01Z https://kfitz.info/absolute-madness-im-sure/ You know what’s crossing my mind these days? Attempting to migrate this here blog over to WordPress. WP is both faster and lighter, and is much more integrated with a number of other services (like Technorati, for instance) than my current... 2006-02-03T12:30:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-future-of-the-book/ (Crossposted from ElectraPress.)
The protracted silence at the ElectraPress blog has no doubt produced an unfortunate dissipation of attention and energies, but I hope that those of you still... 2006-02-02T12:58:08Z https://kfitz.info/bleh-2/ Suffering a bout of post-travel flatness. Wishing to be back in bed, or perhaps under it, where it’s darker. Will hope to resume normal operations shortly. 2006-02-01T13:01:01Z https://kfitz.info/remix-culture/ Sounds to me like last night we had the first SOTU put together entirely out of samples of previous recordings.
Or at least that’s how it reads. I wouldn’t know, because I... 2006-01-31T13:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/frey-them/ So I spent much of yesterday attempting to compile my meager thoughts about l’affaire Frey into something halfway worthy of a post. After all, this little crisis around the truth value of the memoir is hardly the first such I’ve 2006-01-31T02:07:00Z https://kfitz.info/not-a-loser-thank-you-very-much/ Via unrequited narcissism, the affirmation I’ve been waiting for:

The... 2006-01-30T16:28:02Z https://kfitz.info/say-goodbye/ News comes this afternoon that ogged‘s taking down the shingle. Things in the blogosphere feel different to me already. 2006-01-29T19:35:00Z https://kfitz.info/i-heart-n-y/ I’ve been in New York for the last couple of days, and though I’ve had the computer with me, and have been having a fabulous time, I haven’t felt the least bit compelled to post. I’m here for some meetings which are beginning tomorrow, about which... 2006-01-25T13:35:01Z https://kfitz.info/you-know-what-you-cant-take-a-sabbatical-from/ Letters of recommendation.
*sigh* 2006-01-24T12:44:01Z https://kfitz.info/advocating/ I spent much of yesterday in the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Library, reading through the microfilm archive of the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, the predecessor of today’s Advocate, the sole remaining... 2006-01-22T17:35:11Z https://kfitz.info/software-i-love-right-now/ — OmniOutliner Pro, whose praises I’ve sung in the past, and which continues to rock. In conjunction... 2006-01-20T13:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-archive/ I finally get it — why researchers develop archive fever. I spent part of yesterday afternoon in the special collections of the LSU Libraries, and am completely entranced. Not only was the staff... 2006-01-19T14:52:01Z https://kfitz.info/not-just-a-rhetorical-question-or-three/ Is the plural of “roof” roofs or rooves? Is one U.S. usage and the other a Britishism? Which is which? 2006-01-19T13:45:00Z https://kfitz.info/so-whats-up-in-canada-eh/ In the last few days, I’ve gotten hundreds of hits from various Canadian browsers, nearly all of whom have come from some variant on a Google search for obsolescence, planned or otherwise. Is there something going on up there I ought to know... 2006-01-18T11:18:02Z https://kfitz.info/how-its-supposed-to-be/ Sabbaticals are good. But, like, really no-kidding good. I spent the early part of yesterday in my pajamas, in front of the computer, working on the new project. And then I pulled myself together that afternoon and went grocery shopping, laying in... 2006-01-16T20:26:00Z https://kfitz.info/home-again-and-home-again/ The trip to SoCal to gather the last of my stuff, cram it in my car, and turn the condo over to my tenant (which concept weirds me out a bit) passed in a bit of a blur. There was something surreal about finding myself back in California after what... 2006-01-11T01:46:01Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-road/ Yesterday:
— 4-hour train ride from Paris to Amsterdam
— 3-hour layover in Amsterdam
— 11-hour flight from Amsterdam to Houston
— 3-hour layover in Houston
— 1-hour flight from Houston to Baton... 2006-01-08T07:49:00Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-electronic-scholarly-publishing/ A bibliography-in-progress, bringing together resources and discussions on electronic scholarly publishing, as well as other links useful to particular issues in the ElectraPress project.
Bibliographies
Bailey, Charles W., Jr. 2006-01-06T15:53:00Z https://kfitz.info/pardon-our-dust/ Site design conversion in progress. Things are likely to be wonky for an hour or so, and then just… different. Change is good, folks. It’s long past time. 2006-01-06T05:30:01Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-future-of-academic-publishing-peer-review-and-tenure-requirements/ (Or, Remaking the Academy, One Electronic Text at a Time)
cross-posted from The Valve:
Inside Higher Ed reported a... 2006-01-05T11:23:01Z https://kfitz.info/some-months-later/ It’s funny the things your old friends will remind you of. Like the embarrassing things you said in college. Or like the funny haircuts you used to think looked good.
Or, say, like you said months ago that you were going to post more... 2006-01-04T07:47:01Z https://kfitz.info/lingua-franca/ I’ve been having this series of moments of late that can only be adequately described using R.’s wonderful phrase, “light dawns over Marblehead,” the moment at which the utterly obvious becomes glaringly apparent. Perhaps it’s a function of... 2006-01-03T06:26:01Z https://kfitz.info/in-paris/ We took an early morning train from Amsterdam to Paris yesterday and, after checking into our pretty over-the-top wonderful hotel here, wandered down to the Arc de Triomphe. One thing I’ll say so far: it’s a radically different experience being in... 2006-01-01T05:55:00Z https://kfitz.info/two-thousand-six/ I’m hard at work this morning on a hefty post that I’ll hope to publish soon. In the meantime, a quick Happy New Year to you all, and a wish that all your projects take flight in the coming days. 2005-12-31T05:22:01Z https://kfitz.info/beginning/ R. and I were talking yesterday just before lunch about the strange anxieties and difficulties that I’m having with writing right now. Some of it’s been about jetlag, of course; some of it’s about a more general unfocusedness. Some of it’s about... 2005-12-30T08:30:00Z https://kfitz.info/here-and-now/ The end of the year comes in a great rush of late — the leap from Thanksgiving to the end of classes; the sprint from the end of classes to finish grading; the mad dash from the end of grading to Christmas. Most years, that sense of speed is... 2005-12-29T04:38:01Z https://kfitz.info/warming-up/ A sabbatical is a good thing. As is the change of scenery that comes with a trip abroad. R. and I are definitely on vacation, but these two weeks are very much a working vacation for the both of us; he’s got a long-term project that he’s hard at... 2005-12-28T06:24:01Z https://kfitz.info/guilt-free/ There is something quite lovely about reading everybody’s early MLA 2005-12-27T08:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/amsterdam/ The flights were fine. The hotel is grand. And Amsterdam is, as we remembered, gorgeous.
But it is cold. Not just cold, but snowing. And as any of my pals from my days at NYU will... 2005-12-25T11:12:01Z https://kfitz.info/merry-christmas-all/ Thus far, R. and I have managed to survive our holidays with only a modicum of fallout, which is not a thing to be said lightly. In fact, it may well be tempting fate, something I hope to undo with the acknowledgment of fate’s infinite power for... 2005-12-23T13:06:00Z https://kfitz.info/next-year-miracle-ear-for-everybody/ The subject line of this post is what I muttered at my mother after several hours of hanging out with my family, each and every last member of which is suddenly deaf as a post, except for my mother, and she just doesn’t listen. Here’s a sample... 2005-12-20T11:13:00Z https://kfitz.info/free/ It’s taken me a few days since arriving in Baton Rouge to clear up the last details of the semester, but grades are now filed, comments have all been sent to the proper students, various administrative tasks have been checked off the list, and my... 2005-12-15T04:01:00Z https://kfitz.info/almost/ Not too much left:
— One job talk.
— One committee meeting.
— One literary interpretation final paper.
— Eight new media final projects.
— Two... 2005-12-13T19:12:00Z https://kfitz.info/add-them-to-the-list/ Of institutions with which I will no longer do business, that is: FTD.com. I will so no longer do business with them that I’m not even going to throw them the link. Anyone who wants to ignore my boycott recommendation... 2005-12-12T04:49:40Z https://kfitz.info/notes-on-class-blogging/ I’ve just posted what follows on Machine, the aggregator blog from this semester’s Theories of New Media class. I’d asked the class to post concluding thoughts thinking about the blog... 2005-12-11T17:29:34Z https://kfitz.info/trackation-of-deliveration/ I ordered some jeans online last week, and just attempted to track the package, in order to figure out when they’ll be here, and hence, when the single pair of jeans that I currently own that I like — and thus the single pair of jeans that I wear,... 2005-12-10T21:50:08Z https://kfitz.info/counting-down/ Before my sabbatical can begin, I must:
— Attend three committee meetings.
— Have one meeting with a program administrator.
— Eat lunch with the dean.
— Go to two job talks.
— Grade sixteen literary interpretation final... 2005-12-10T15:11:10Z https://kfitz.info/ergh/ I was never really one for drinking and dialing. Probably because I so loathe the telephone as a medium of communication.
Drinking and blogging, however…
Perhaps I should run a breathalyzer through the wi-fi. 2005-12-10T07:40:07Z https://kfitz.info/formerly/ So, sure, I read the press releases, and I even wrote about it somewhere that I’m too lazy to go seek out a link for right now, at 2.38 in the bloody morning, so I knew it was coming, but I still want to say that I’m completely over the top... 2005-12-09T13:43:24Z https://kfitz.info/tulane/ Word in this morning’s Chronicle is that Tulane University is entering a period of major restructuring as it attempts to reopen. This 2005-12-09T02:36:26Z https://kfitz.info/reading-the-wire/ What does it say about me that my first thought was “suicide pact“?
Nothing good, I’m sure. 2005-12-08T04:06:11Z https://kfitz.info/wha/ Chuck Henry, NBC 4 News, 11 pm broadcast: apparently the sky marshal program was begun “in 1968, under President Reagan.”
I wish I were kidding. 2005-12-07T13:40:38Z https://kfitz.info/last-day/ Today’s the last day of classes here in Claremont, and given that I’m very, very shortly outta here (first, holidays; then, vacation; after, blissful months-long period of reading and writing) — well, needless to say, I’m happy. But also sad. And... 2005-12-04T22:05:40Z https://kfitz.info/dreams/ The last couple of nights, I’ve dreamed about running, a little way for my unconscious to attempt to guilt-trip me into getting back into my running shoes. It’s been one thing after another for the last week: a strained something in my left knee... 2005-12-03T22:25:06Z https://kfitz.info/t-minus-fourteen-days/ Three teaching days.
Five class sessions.
One session of office hours.
Two committee meetings.
One meeting with a program administrator.
Two lunches with deans.
One department... 2005-12-02T15:58:59Z https://kfitz.info/on-strike-at-nyu/ My doctoral institution, that private university in the public service, was at one point not too many years ago ahead of the pack in its recognition of its grad-student union. That recognition has of course now been withdrawn, and the university’s... 2005-12-01T15:13:40Z https://kfitz.info/sign-up-get-involved/ (cross-posted from ElectraPress)
I’m having many behind-the-scenes email conversations with many folks interested in contributing to the future of ElectraPress. These conversations have been... 2005-12-01T14:52:51Z https://kfitz.info/stupid-back/ Massive muscle spasm, just left of my right shoulderblade, as I was sitting here writing an email message. Can no longer raise my head. Have cleared my schedule until 4 this afternoon, so muscle relaxers are imminent. But infuriating: today is one... 2005-11-30T03:11:24Z https://kfitz.info/ticker-still-ticking/ Remaining:

Four teaching days.
Seven class sessions.
One session of office hours.
Three committee meetings.
Two meetings with a program administrator.
One department dinner.
One... 2005-11-26T15:10:17Z https://kfitz.info/on-electronic-scholarly-publishing/ What follows is lengthy, a draft of the ElectraPress proposal that I was circulating before my dean decided that he loved the electronic part and hated the cooperative/open source/open access parts, which were of course the parts that were most... 2005-11-24T13:16:06Z https://kfitz.info/bad-karma-or-why-i-will-never-ever-tempt-fate-again/ Sunday, I think it was, R. and I were driving back into my neighborhood, and he was asking how my finances were. I’ve been what my mother refers to as “condo poor” all year, working pretty hard paycheck to paycheck to keep the mortgage and other... 2005-11-22T13:52:37Z https://kfitz.info/why-yesterday-was-a-bad-day/ R. and I had gone out to have lunch at a place near my office; I’d walked and met him there, but he’d driven since he was planning on running errands after lunch. Both of us were already grouchy, as things just weren’t going terribly well for... 2005-11-20T15:27:06Z https://kfitz.info/aargh/ So after yesterday’s post, and Meg’s going all Nike on me, I just did it: began the process of starting up a multiply-authored site at ElectraPress.com. In fact, I’ve started up two such sites, one using 2005-11-19T13:42:01Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-the-future/ For some months, I’ve had a project on hold, one that I wish I’d had the time, the energy, the funding, and the general wherewithal to push forward much sooner than I have, but… haven’t. My leave is now coming up, just around the corner, and I’m... 2005-11-16T21:18:22Z https://kfitz.info/the-ticker/ Certainly this is more for my benefit than for yours, but here’s what now remains before the sabbatical begins:

Seven teaching days.
Twelve class sessions.
Three sessions of office... 2005-11-14T14:20:00Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-cpu-resources/ This is just to say that my usage of precious CPU seconds is down from a peak of 7460.44 a week ago to 29.29 yesterday.
Now to reconstruct my embedded templates.
That is all. 2005-11-14T13:41:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-23/ Planned mileage for week: 15
Actual mileage for week: 3
Planned number of run days: 4
Actual number of run days: 1
Long run for week:... 2005-11-13T05:04:59Z https://kfitz.info/tinkering/ I’ve spent much too much of this weekend wrestling with a series of thorny and utterly unnecessary technical problems related to various of my websites. And I’m having a hard time making myself stop and do the things I actually need to be doing... 2005-11-11T13:35:13Z https://kfitz.info/cold/ There are few sensations more ominous than the sore throat, and particularly the throat that is sore in that peculiar spot where it meets the soft palate. This is never a portent of good, in my experience, and nearly always means that I’m coming... 2005-11-09T19:38:12Z https://kfitz.info/what-remains/ As I’ve mentioned before, as of December 17, I’m outta here. Between now and then, however, there remain:

Five weeks and three days.
Ten teaching days.
Seventeen class... 2005-11-09T14:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/coke-light/ The other day, I was unloading a 12-pack of diet Coke cans into my refrigerator, and about halfway through the package pulled out one that felt… wrong. I couldn’t have told you why at first; something about it just wasn’t right. I froze, can in... 2005-11-08T00:15:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-22/ Grrrr.
Planned mileage for week: 14
Actual mileage for week: 9
Planned number of run days: 4
Actual number of run days: 3
Long run for... 2005-11-03T15:51:53Z https://kfitz.info/working-on-planes/ I’ve had several conversations with folks over the course of the week, conversations that were mostly about my stress level and general bad attitude, that resulted in my confessing my dread of the conference trip I’m taking this weekend. I’m going... 2005-11-01T13:42:18Z https://kfitz.info/olive-or-twist/ Do you ever have fantasies about running away? About shelving this whole academic (or corporate, or whatever) life, maybe moving to some other city, and just doing something different?
I do. Not so often that I think they should be taken... 2005-10-31T13:22:55Z https://kfitz.info/well-there-went-that/ So it turns out that it wasn’t really so much optimism that was in the air as schadenfreude, and lord knows the universe always manages to 2005-10-30T16:02:12Z https://kfitz.info/category-mistake/ Sigh. When I began this here blog, it never occurred to me that I’d find myself, three and a half years and 680 entries down the line, desirous of a better organizational system. I had this cutesy tag line — novels, networks, and some stuff... 2005-10-30T14:05:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-21/ Planned mileage for week: 9
Actual mileage for week: 9
Number of run days: 3
Long run for week: 4
Aches, pains, complaints: None so... 2005-10-29T16:30:14Z https://kfitz.info/an-ethical-dilemma-of-a-hypothetical-nature/ Meg’s recent hints of students in crisis over at xoom raises a question for me, one I’ve been wondering about for some time. This really is more hypothetical than actual, at the... 2005-10-28T22:42:43Z https://kfitz.info/gestalt/ After two martinis and a glass of wine, I found it extraordinarily funny that Marion Barry pled guilty to tax evasion on 2005-10-28T19:07:52Z https://kfitz.info/i-only-wish/ Somebody found this site the other day by googling “fitzpatrick investigation.” And oh, man, do I wish I’d had something to do with it. Patrick may be a Fitzgerald, but I’ll happily claim the brotherhood nonetheless. 2005-10-27T20:21:53Z https://kfitz.info/all-the-kids-are-doing-it/ Readership maps, that is. Go add yourself to mine.
[UPDATE, 10.28.05, 4.37 pm: Thanks to those of you who are playing along. The rest of you are making me look bad.] 2005-10-27T13:55:12Z https://kfitz.info/see-this-is-what-i-meant/ Not blogging regularly. Not practicing. And as a result, the world looks deadly dull to me, with nothing offering itself up as deserving to be recorded.
Classes are good. Reports are getting... 2005-10-25T10:30:00Z https://kfitz.info/return-of-running-log/ This is the official announcement of the return of the running log. The announcement comes in no small part because I have discovered, much to my dismay, that I have become one of those people who is incapable of doing anything without a specific... 2005-10-23T21:24:03Z https://kfitz.info/what-ive-accomplished-this-weekend/ After long struggle, with numerous setbacks, I have at last gotten myself entirely caught up on Lost.
That is all.
(No, seriously: that is all. That and making a big pot of red beans. It has been a lovely, lazy,... 2005-10-20T11:09:45Z https://kfitz.info/the-worm-turns-or-begins-to-turn-or-begins-to-think-of-turning/ Despite all the destruction and devastation around the globe, despite soaring inflation and 2005-10-19T14:11:53Z https://kfitz.info/research-dream/ I just remembered, like just this second, that at some point in the last few days I had a dream in which I was bartering with someone, and had given her something that she valued sufficiently to offer to compensate me by indexing 100 pages of my... 2005-10-19T10:59:38Z https://kfitz.info/recovery/ Yesterday’s travel was relatively painless, and generally productive; I managed to get the batch of project proposals that I needed to comment on done, which felt like something of a triumph. And then, miracle of all miracles, I came home and paid... 2005-10-18T10:13:07Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-conference-format/ As Alex notes, the AOIR folks are debating the next conference’s structure, trying to decide whether to include more alternative session formats in amongst what someone at the general meeting referred... 2005-10-17T22:39:31Z https://kfitz.info/fall-break-broke/ The last five days have been absolutely dreamy — arrived in BTR at 9.30am, delirious and vaguely cranky, but got taken home to the fabulous apartment I’ll be spending the spring in, where I got to take a shower and a nap before beginning a serious... 2005-10-16T15:39:55Z https://kfitz.info/rather-than-working/ Something in my brain went a bit kerflooey in that last push to get the needed stuff done before getting out of town, so I’ve spent the bulk of this weekend just recuperating. Some of that recuperation has happened by way of tinkering with web... 2005-10-13T07:56:03Z https://kfitz.info/red-eye-redux/ Tired, headachy, IAH, wi-fi, blah blah blah. You know the drill.
More when I get where I’m going, and when my brain catches up with me. 2005-10-12T11:59:27Z https://kfitz.info/what-im-not-doing/ A junior colleague of mine, not long ago, reported being asked by some senior faculty members how she had managed to participate in a faculty seminar last year. “What did you have to give up in order to do that?” they asked, not so much... 2005-10-11T10:37:02Z https://kfitz.info/what-to-do-with-72-hours-at-home/ Traveling weekend number four of four begins with the red-eye Wednesday night. This leaves me — or left me, in any case — approximately 72 hours between getting home from Chicago and heading off again. In the interim, I need to:
—... 2005-10-09T10:53:14Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-631-scholarly-communication-in-the-age-of-the-internet/ It’s taken me since yesterday evening to be able to post this, first because the presentations were so inspiring for me that I took notes that were more copious than organized, and second, because I went from these two panels into the general... 2005-10-08T11:01:07Z https://kfitz.info/a-confession/ I’m playing a bit of hooky this morning, hoping to get a little work done. Day three of any given conference is usually the day when my brain says “enough!” and takes a hiatus; true to form, I simply could not persuade myself to get out of bed... 2005-10-07T18:35:39Z https://kfitz.info/and-now-for-something-completely-different-2/ Via my friend Tim, Georgie. It takes a bit to load, so be patient; it’s worth it. You can either just enjoy the spectacle of him falling, or you can move him around with your mouse. 2005-10-07T16:34:52Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-623/ I wasn’t really able to take notes during the roundtable on “revolution or reform” I participated in at noon today, but I wanted to note a few things from it.
First off, this was a great combination of folks: Taso Lagos from UW, Victor... 2005-10-07T13:11:53Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-622-saskia-sassen/ What follows are my notes on Saskia Sassen’s keynote address, “Digital Formations: The Intersection of Technical and Social Logics in Electronic Space.” A reminder that any mischaracterization or misunderstanding is my fault, not... 2005-10-07T11:40:02Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-621-the-whinging-continues/ On the up side, I slept like a big dog. Apparently, there was a choice to be made between sleep and breakfast, one I thought I’d sorted out — the concierge lounge remains open on Friday mornings until 11, so no sweat. Alas, my one crack at a free... 2005-10-06T18:57:08Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-612-a-moment-of-whinging/ This is the roundtable I’m speaking on, not that you’d be able to tell from the program. Not that, in fact, you’d even know I was at the conference. Grrr.
Tagged: 2005-10-06T18:47:43Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-611/ Well, there’s wireless. Sort of. It was there for a second and then it totally died, so this is going to be less liveblogging than intermittent blogging, much like AOIR 4. I’m going to capture what I can here, or rather what happens to catch my... 2005-10-06T07:41:51Z https://kfitz.info/thursday-morning-4-am/ Otherwise known as 6 am in Houston. Greetings, once again, from mid-red eye IAH. The flight out of ONT was relatively painless, due to an upgrade: got on the plane, downed a vodka and cranberry, and dozed off. The odd thing about plane sleep for... 2005-10-05T16:09:24Z https://kfitz.info/why-we-should-all-stand-in-line-to-bear-his-children-or-at-least-to-buy-him-a-beer/ Ethan J. A. Schoonover has made Kinkless GTD, an OmniOutliner Pro-based 2005-10-04T12:29:23Z https://kfitz.info/chicago/ I’ll be there. Lilia will be there. Alex will be there.
Will... 2005-10-03T11:56:05Z https://kfitz.info/an-argument-in-favor-of-the-digitization-of-the-library/ I’ve nearly gotten through the copy-edited manuscript, which has been a pretty overwhelming and, at moments, frustrating task. I’ve got six small queries yet to finish dealing with, three of which have to do with whether an emphasis appeared in... 2005-10-02T10:19:46Z https://kfitz.info/same-song-second-verse/ Another panicky weekend with three times as much to get done as can conceivably be crammed into the days. The bad news is that once again I’ll be beginning Monday way more unprepared for the week than I want to be.
The good news is that... 2005-09-30T11:51:18Z https://kfitz.info/shining/ This is the funniest thing I’ve seen in weeks.
And man, did I need that. 2005-09-28T12:03:48Z https://kfitz.info/blog-as-narrative-archive/ The lecture that I’m set to give tomorrow, which I’m doing some heavy-duty work on this morning, is part of a series of lectures, classes, and screenings collectively titled “The New Documentary Impulse.” Much of this series, as you might expect,... 2005-09-27T17:42:02Z https://kfitz.info/just-to-show-ogged-im-no-prude/ And also because the wisdom contained therein is pretty damned good: Fontana Labs’s advice for new grad students. Even if it does contain the word “fellatio.”
Worse... 2005-09-27T14:04:43Z https://kfitz.info/de-escalating/ Navigated classes with only a modicum of humiliation.
Have completed another revision of proposal; one more draft to go before seeking committee comment.
Have begun drafting lecture; will complete tomorrow.
Review of... 2005-09-26T12:12:03Z https://kfitz.info/panic/ Two classes to teach today, both of them unprepared.
Review of copy-edited manuscript due tomorrow, only about half-completed.
Lecture... 2005-09-25T11:24:14Z https://kfitz.info/some-things-i-love-about-the-internet/ One day, you write something about a guy’s first book, and the next day, you get an email message from that guy thanking you for your comments and offering help with a critical issue... 2005-09-24T14:49:46Z https://kfitz.info/academic-social-software-wish-list/ Hey, could I persuade somebody to build this application for me? What I want is something that combines the functionality of something like Library Thing with the functionality of a bibliographic software... 2005-09-24T12:32:02Z https://kfitz.info/whats-with-the-blimps/ So BT yesterday mentioned a weird blimp-congregation in the skies over Manhattan, and perhaps it’s only that... 2005-09-22T17:45:40Z https://kfitz.info/the-near-miss/ A few days ago, I came within a couple of inches of hitting a pedestrian.
I was waiting at a stop sign, making a right-hand turn into traffic, watching for a break in the cars approaching from the left. A six-foot fence wraps around the... 2005-09-21T12:40:53Z https://kfitz.info/words-ive-decided-i-hate-volume-1/ Migraineur. One who has migraines.
Every time I hear this word, my brain jumps to connoisseur and flaneur, and it just pisses me off. As though having migraines was some kind of lifestyle choice. As though their... 2005-09-20T22:25:23Z https://kfitz.info/yippee/ I got nothing more to say but this. It seems to be coming a few months later than I expected, but it’s on the internets, so it must be real. Right? 2005-09-20T14:22:12Z https://kfitz.info/maybe-its-just-me/ Something very weird is afoot. I’ve been daypopped for no reason that I can discern. Through some weird glitch in the matrix, I own spots 9-16 out of the top 40, and number 14, the one of the batch that... 2005-09-20T10:06:55Z https://kfitz.info/apocalypse-confirmed/ I was awakened just before 1.00 this morning by one heck of a thunderstorm.
In Southern California.
In September.
And it’s still raining. 2005-09-19T22:33:15Z https://kfitz.info/manhole-cover-go-boom/ Here’s one way to get out of the office before dark: have the power go out. The Claremont Colleges are on one of those reduced-cost power dealies (I think that’s the technical term), whereby we have to shut off the power in the event of rolling... 2005-09-19T09:59:48Z https://kfitz.info/cant-stop-that-day/ Every semester for the last two and a half years, I’ve arranged things such that my scheduled commitments for the week all fall between Monday and Wednesday. The good news in this is that generally speaking, by Wednesday at 5.00 pm, I’m free to... 2005-09-18T18:17:36Z https://kfitz.info/weekend-update/ Things that have been accomplished:
— Writing the first draft of a position planning document.
— Catching up on reading and commenting on a backlog of student writing.
— Re-reading the volume of poems for one of tomorrow’s... 2005-09-16T11:50:29Z https://kfitz.info/the-last-days-of-academic-publishing/ In the category of things I failed to blog yesterday: Bill Germano, vice-president and publishing director at Routledge, has apparently been forced out by a restructuring of the... 2005-09-15T18:46:45Z https://kfitz.info/go-me/ After what feels like days, my head is at last clearing, and I have my sights set on a productive weekend. Today, however, began with (a) me sleeping in, still recovering from the skull-splitting of the day before, and (b) an early-morning... 2005-09-14T22:29:05Z https://kfitz.info/at-a-loss/ For sheer absurdity, perhaps the most dumbfounding thing I’ve seen all day.
This is the so-called leader of the free world, folks. But you gotta... 2005-09-14T11:54:09Z https://kfitz.info/migraine/ The first one I’ve had in almost five years, I think. I used to get one roughly every six months, until my doctor decided that getting my allergies under control would help rid me of the migraines. Weirdly enough, it worked. But the downside of... 2005-09-13T15:58:32Z https://kfitz.info/activism-for-the-radically-lazy/ Follow these directions:
1. Call Governor Schwartzenegger: 916-445-2841 (they’re apparently accepting calls from anywhere).
2. Push: 2 (voice your opinion on legislation).
3. Push: 1 (gender-neutral marriage bill – Senate Bill... 2005-09-13T10:52:31Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-practice/ Collin took the notion of “practice” that I raised on Sunday and ran with it, thinking both about the ways that academics... 2005-09-12T23:15:09Z https://kfitz.info/oops/ Somebody somewhere apparently crossed the streams earlier today, and everything around here 2005-09-12T10:43:17Z https://kfitz.info/before-and-after/ My stepfather just forwarded me a couple of photos sent to him by his junior partner in his real estate firm. The junior partner received these from a fraternity brother of his, who took the pictures before and after Katrina, from roughly the same... 2005-09-12T10:19:22Z https://kfitz.info/earworm-of-the-week/ I am frequently plagued by earworms. You know earworms, right — the songs that get stuck in your head? They seem inevitably to be the most annoying songs... 2005-09-11T16:06:20Z https://kfitz.info/practice-practice-practice/ Folks out there in Bloglandia seem really often to run up against the same kinds of concerns at the same moments, without necessarily knowing about one another, as though there’s something in the zeitgeist that suddenly makes its way to... 2005-09-09T10:16:43Z https://kfitz.info/days-when-its-a-good-thing-youve-got-tenure/ When you completely fail to show up for dinner at the dean’s house, because you’ve written it on the wrong day on your calendar. 2005-09-08T17:53:25Z https://kfitz.info/on-never-feeling-like-youve-done-enough/ I’ve given to the Red Cross, and to Catholic Charities USA.
I’ve given minor (mostly moral) support to a student here who has organized fundraising here on campus.
I’ve made an open offer of help to our administration, as they 2005-09-07T21:02:36Z https://kfitz.info/jon-stewart-on-katrina/ If you haven’t seen it, go watch. 2005-09-07T16:02:13Z https://kfitz.info/more-on-those-dreams/ I woke up appallingly early this morning, considering how late I’d gotten to sleep last night, and lay there thinking about those dreams I’ve been having the last several days.
It occurred to me that the worst of the dreams — worse than the... 2005-09-06T13:41:32Z https://kfitz.info/but-one-more-thing/ This, I can’t resist (from a wire story on Salon:

“Bureaucracy has murdered people in the greater New Orleans area. And bureaucracy needs to stand... 2005-09-06T10:08:07Z https://kfitz.info/stemming-the-flood/ I’ve found myself, since mid-weekend, with a vastly reduced desire to write about Katrina and its aftermath. I’ve spent a bit this morning trying to figure out why, and have come up with a number of possible reasons why I no longer feel so... 2005-09-05T13:40:41Z https://kfitz.info/the-katrina-peoplefinder-project/ Via a listserv I’m in, information about the Katrina PeopleFinder Project:

Donated money? Please donate a little time. Join the Katrina
PeopleFinder Project.
It’s easy. All you need is an internet connection and... 2005-09-05T09:05:22Z https://kfitz.info/in-other-news/ Things I don’t have the energy to write about right now:
— Rehnquist died. I’m sure you know that by now.
— Tribble’s back. See Collin’s analysis, in... 2005-09-05T00:20:37Z https://kfitz.info/folks-were-still-trying-to-find/ A friend of mine from back in the day directs me to the Hurricane Poets Check-In, where some information has been gathered about the status, as known, of a number of New Orleans writers.... 2005-09-03T10:06:45Z https://kfitz.info/air-america-public-voicemail/ Air America has announced a service that they hope will assist people looking for missing loved ones: Air America Public Voicemail. From their announcement:

Air America... 2005-09-02T17:17:19Z https://kfitz.info/more-from-baton-rouge/ A pal of mine, whose mother works for one of the region’s power companies, passed on some information that she’d gotten via email. I’m not going to quote the message directly, but will report a few of the facts that it includes, below the... 2005-09-02T12:10:36Z https://kfitz.info/waiting-for-the-locusts/ I think horseman number three of four has just arrived on the scene: the city of New Orleans is on fire. And there’s no water pressure, and no equipment, to put it out. 2005-09-02T10:38:10Z https://kfitz.info/the-parents-are-in-the-house/ My parents arrived last night, and while both of them look a little wrung-out, and both are clearly very upset about what’s happening to the state they both love, they’re doing quite well. They brought news from Baton Rouge, some of which I’ll... 2005-09-01T20:31:17Z https://kfitz.info/lake-george/ So they’re calling the city of New Orleans at the EPA, as reported by Wonkette:

We’re naming it Lake George, ‘cause it’s his... 2005-09-01T18:25:37Z https://kfitz.info/updates-from-home/ Rumors are running rampant. No one seems to know what’s actually happening, and what’s just talk. But the chaos seems to be spreading outside New Orleans.
More below the... 2005-09-01T11:26:04Z https://kfitz.info/what-went-wrong/ Many, many things, but I’ll only name three:
10,000 members of the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama National Guards are in Iraq, and so are unable... 2005-09-01T11:04:26Z https://kfitz.info/the-race-and-class-of-disaster/ Watching CNN’s coverage of the disaster in New Orleans, the thing that isn’t being said by most observers comes screaming out of the screen: New Orleans has a majority-black population. And there’s a very strong correlation between poverty and... 2005-08-31T21:50:16Z https://kfitz.info/the-beauty-part/ Here’s the brilliant thing. And that I am saying this is not just attributable to the martini(s) earlier this evening imbibed, but said beverages no doubt don’t hurt. The brilliant thing is that my parents got their power back this morning, and... 2005-08-31T15:51:58Z https://kfitz.info/now-heres-something-i-never-thought-id-say/ Thank god for Texas.
Texas governor Rick Perry earlier today 2005-08-31T11:17:36Z https://kfitz.info/and-what-i-cant-figure-out/ Is how the rest of the world can be going about its business so nonchalantly. Like BT, I’ve got the peculiar kind of obsession with what’s happening that, I suppose, only someone with... 2005-08-31T10:38:52Z https://kfitz.info/from-bad-to-worse-and-worse-to-worser/ Governor Kathleen Blanco is ordering everyone who didn’t evacuate from New Orleans before the storm to evacuate now; she’s sending in buses and boats, and getting... 2005-08-30T16:08:47Z https://kfitz.info/folks-im-still-looking-for/ They live in New Orleans, but have families and other connections elsewhere in the state, and so — I hope — almost certainly evacuated early. But their email servers have been shut down, or destroyed, or both, and so no messages are getting... 2005-08-30T12:30:30Z https://kfitz.info/the-day-after/ The news out of New Orleans is perversely getting worse instead of better; a two-block long breach in the levee surrounding Lake Pontchartrain resulted in water pouring into... 2005-08-30T09:04:42Z https://kfitz.info/the-power-of-suggestion/ Today’s the first day of classes. Today’s also the day I decided to start eenching (which is like inching, only more painful) my alarm clock earlier.
This morning, despite the fact that my alarm... 2005-08-29T14:40:19Z https://kfitz.info/do-you-know-what-it-means-to-miss-new-orleans/ This is why I love NOLA, courtesy of Wonkette:

SHEPARD SMITH: You’re live on FOX News Channel, what are you... 2005-08-29T10:59:34Z https://kfitz.info/coverage/ So I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours watching obsessive amounts of CNN coverage of Katrina’s onslaught on the Gulf Coast. The good news, insofar as there is good news, is that none of the nightmare projections of what... 2005-08-28T15:55:37Z https://kfitz.info/katrina/ My parents have done what they can to protect their boat, which is just on the other side of Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, and have motored back up the road to Baton Rouge, where they’re busy battening down the hatches. 2005-08-26T11:03:37Z https://kfitz.info/by-the-by/ Just so you know.
I’m experimenting with moving the bulk of entries under the fold, so that more entries are immediately visible on the index page, with a minimum of scrolling. If this is too annoying, let me know. 2005-08-26T10:57:00Z https://kfitz.info/early-birds-and-all-that/ I have this genius plan, whereby I get up super early every morning this semester, do the requisite teeth-brushing and contact-lens-in-putting, and then plop myself down in front of the computer for at least one hour, and conceivably two, of... 2005-08-25T18:17:39Z https://kfitz.info/denial/ The thing is, it’s not that I don’t want to go back to teaching. I’m fairly well prepared for my classes, and I think they’re going to be a lot of fun this semester.
It’s that I don’t want to go back to my administrative life. And so I’m... 2005-08-25T11:48:41Z https://kfitz.info/grrrr/ Remember the buying spree I had the luxury to go on this summer? A quick recap: under the auspices of a collection of small grants, I got to purchase some new equipment and some software that I’d been meaning to pick up for a... 2005-08-24T16:30:25Z https://kfitz.info/one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others/ So I’ve still got Six Feet Under on the brain. Spoilers, below the fold.
I’ve been bothered, since watching the final episode’s final episodes, the flash-forwards to the deaths of all the... 2005-08-24T14:02:26Z https://kfitz.info/huh/ Djever find yourself wondering exactly how the penny got into your garbage disposal? 2005-08-24T11:33:10Z https://kfitz.info/when-anonymity-fails/ Tribble’s still got me thinking, folks. Not about the propriety (or lack thereof) of academic blogging, but about the anonymous Chronicle rant.
Witness yesterday’s... 2005-08-24T03:52:03Z https://kfitz.info/pandering/ As in, pandering for my own anxieties, yes, apparently, I was. I’ll post about the anxieties that produced such pandering in the morning. In the meantime, thanks for letting me know you’re still out there. And thanks, in other comments, for the... 2005-08-23T14:15:59Z https://kfitz.info/ways-that-today-is-thus-far-much-better-than-yesterday/ Today began utterly unceremoniously, with a trip to the eye doctor. Things were not looking good when I arrived; the waiting room was completely full, and about fifteen minutes into my wait my eye doctor herself appeared and began calling patients... 2005-08-23T14:05:23Z https://kfitz.info/crickets/ So I’m wondering: have I completely alienated what little audience I ever had, such that no one’s reading this thing except for the bots and the crawlers, or have I somehow cowed everyone (except for a few hardy souls who know me personally) into... 2005-08-22T23:23:37Z https://kfitz.info/six-feet-under-now-six-feet-under/ Spoilers abound. Read at your peril.
I spent the last twenty minutes of last night’s final episode of Six Feet Under crying my eyes out. And rewatching it tonight was not much different. There... 2005-08-22T18:18:43Z https://kfitz.info/a-quick-poll/ You’ve just received a birthday present from your mother via UPS, but your birthday isn’t until tomorrow. Do you open the present right away, or do you wait? 2005-08-22T16:16:04Z https://kfitz.info/some-days/ Some days are destined to be expensive. This, alas, is one of them. I knew it was bound to be, because I had my appointment with Mike the blinds guy, but it didn’t quite go like I expected.
The morning began with $200 worth of dentistry,... 2005-08-18T22:40:54Z https://kfitz.info/headed-home/ Sitting in the club lounge in HNL, waiting for a flight that is still hours away. The last day in Hawaii is always hard, not least because your flight never leaves until late evening, but your hotel boots you out in the early afternoon. And the... 2005-08-16T22:34:36Z https://kfitz.info/hear-hear/ Via meg, a new response to the Ivan Tribble column, “Bloggers Need Not Apply,”, this one published as a... 2005-08-16T21:34:39Z https://kfitz.info/radio-silence/ There’s not been much in the way of posting from here, in part because that trickle of leaky wi-fi has been erratic at best (damn leaky wi-fi! Be reliable!), and in part because I’ve been too relaxed even to recognize material around me worth... 2005-08-15T14:33:47Z https://kfitz.info/life-without-hbo/ So last night, we’re flipping through the channels and trying to pretend like we don’t realize that we’re missing the second-to-last Six Feet Under ever, and we stumble across a Japanese-language... 2005-08-14T16:15:50Z https://kfitz.info/snap-out-of-it/ Say, for reasons that are absolutely, positively, Nobody’s Fault, you find yourself in one seriously grouchy goddamn mood. Like fight-picking grouchy. Fight-picking with total strangers grouchy. And say, for the sake of argument, that you find... 2005-08-12T12:33:08Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-joys-of-the-working-vacation/ So my last post garnered me more than one slightly shocked “you brought your laptop to Hawaii?” from my faithful correspondents, which didn’t make me reconsider that decision, but which did make me think through why the choice... 2005-08-10T11:06:35Z https://kfitz.info/one-of-my-favorite-things/ I’d completely forgotten, since I was last here, that one of my favorite things about Hawaii is its time zone. Hawaii is to California as California is to the east coast: three hours earlier. Coming here, I try to avoid resetting my internal... 2005-08-07T15:15:59Z https://kfitz.info/pheromones/ During the time that R. was in Washington — the most recent time, that is, the last ten months he spent on active duty there — we had a running gag over the phone and via email in which I would tell him, among other things, that “those kitties is... 2005-08-05T17:00:14Z https://kfitz.info/quoted/ A couple of days ago, I received first an email message and then a phone call from an L.A. Times reporter doing a story on the white women in peril phenomenon. We had a longish and interesting... 2005-08-02T20:54:20Z https://kfitz.info/less-depressed-still-annoyed/ So I managed to knock two major items off the mile-long to-do list, and it’s an accomplishment in no small part because (1) these were the two things that I most dreaded doing, and (2) they were the most pressing things on the list. (1) + (2) =... 2005-08-01T18:08:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-doldrums/ I was about to open by asking whether there was a physical equivalent to depression, because that’s what I think I’ve got. And of course there is: it’s called depression. Duh.
I don’t want to overstate my current situation; things are just... 2005-07-31T23:25:57Z https://kfitz.info/and-what-did-you-accomplish-today/ Me? Nada. I didn’t even get the load of laundry I meant to do done (though there’s still time for that, I guess). Best yet, I didn’t even pretend to work — instead, I laid around, read purely for fun, got caught up on Six Feet Under, talked on the... 2005-07-29T12:34:06Z https://kfitz.info/the-dumbest-thing-ive-done-lately/ Gave our work-study students a stack of four photocopied articles that I’ve used in coursepacks for the last few years, asking them to track down and photocopy the title and copyright pages for the texts that each came from, so that I can scan the... 2005-07-28T17:40:07Z https://kfitz.info/more-from-matt-taibbi/ The folks who are coming here looking for info on Matt Taibbi have led me to his most recent New York Press column, on the Ohio voting irregularities of 2004. Provocative... 2005-07-28T12:54:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-hacks/ I hit the treadmill yesterday for my second post-orthotic run, with much the same results as the first: overall, the run felt good; no problems whatsoever with the left foot/ankle/leg; minor complaining from the right foot. So far, so good. I’m... 2005-07-27T10:14:17Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-havent-posted-about-the-roberts-nomination/ Because, for the moment, I’m tired of getting my stupid little heart broken every time the Democrats roll over and play dead. I tell myself that I’m trying to conserve my energies for battles that we have some prayer of winning, but honestly, I’m... 2005-07-26T18:37:34Z https://kfitz.info/roma/ The photos are at last somewhat organized, and posted: all the Rome you could possibly stand.[^1] I went a bit camera-happy while I was there, in no small part because I was photographing for four — my sister didn’t bring her camera, my... 2005-07-25T15:24:15Z https://kfitz.info/surreal-city/ So just after my last post, I headed out for my first run since getting my orthotics. It went quite well, overall; I ran two miles of the 2.5 mile course I took, and my left foot (the one with the bad arch) was just... 2005-07-25T10:10:21Z https://kfitz.info/baggage-claim/ I did make it home yesterday, though not without a snippet of travel drama. The flight was smooth, overall, though we got put into the fly-past-the-airport-and-land-from-the-west flight pattern that usually accompanies the Santa Anas here in... 2005-07-24T09:58:02Z https://kfitz.info/theres-no-place-like-not-quite-home/ I’ve only got a minute before dashing for this morning’s flight, which will finally get me within spitting distance of home. This delay was mostly planned-for, as my EWR to IAH flight got me in after the last flight for ONT had left. I’d even... 2005-07-23T03:15:02Z https://kfitz.info/i-lied/ First, I left Santa Maria Maggiore off the litany. It should have come between the Catacombs and the Pantheon.
Second, there was no rest for the weary. Yesterday included Santa Maria degli Angeli and Martyri, San Giovanni in Laterno, and,... 2005-07-21T17:55:12Z https://kfitz.info/litany/ Spanish Steps. Piazza Venezia. Trevi Fountain. Via del Corso.
Villa Borghese. Borghese Gallery. Via del Corso.
Palatine Hill. Colosseo. Foro Romano. Piazza Venezia. Via del Corso.
Via Appia Antica. Catacombs. Pantheon. Via del... 2005-07-19T02:00:17Z https://kfitz.info/i-hate-jetlag/ Every time I think I’ve got it beat, it comes back and kicks me in the ass. Several trips back, I was unable to sleep the first night I arrived in Europe. The next trip, I slept like a rock that first night, and thought, “heh, that wasn’t bad.”... 2005-07-18T04:25:58Z https://kfitz.info/ply-me-with-prosecco/ Ah, Italia. Life is good, if the Internet access ain’t exactly easy. I’ll post more when there’s not a line waiting for the business center’s computer; for the moment, suffice it to say, so far, so good. I think today’s schedule includes the... 2005-07-15T14:08:13Z https://kfitz.info/head-spinning-shifts-in-travel-plans/ Actually, my head spins in a light breeze, at this point. But this was nonetheless annoying:
Remember that I took the red-eye to Houston to meet up with my parents, and that the three of us were then going to fly here (oh, yes, I’m here;... 2005-07-15T07:49:17Z https://kfitz.info/more-true-confessions/ Perhaps it’s the lack of sleep making me dopey. Or perhaps it’s the head-spinning shifts in travel plans going on by cell phone right now.* One way or another, I’m prompted to a bit of the kind of self-revelation that I’m not ordinarily prone to.... 2005-07-15T02:33:09Z https://kfitz.info/heading-east/ Way east. I’m back in the airport — my wonderful little airport, with the free wifi (though it’s behaving like free wifi, I’m afraid — flashing on and off, four bars, no bars, three bars, one bar, three bars, like a little strobe in my menu bar).... 2005-07-14T16:05:55Z https://kfitz.info/omnioutliner/ I’ve been on the hunt for some time now for a more adequate tasks manager, something that would enable me to combine the benefits of the digital with the clarity of print-on-paper lists. None of the to-do type things I’ve used have really been... 2005-07-14T12:09:04Z https://kfitz.info/stats-watching/ A moment of true confessions: I’m an obsessive stats watcher. I love knowing who’s coming in and out of here, and how long they’re sticking around. And I’m a bit obsessed, in a weird audience-research sort of way, with seeing what posts draw a... 2005-07-14T00:27:49Z https://kfitz.info/a-query/ Did either Mike or Matt Taibbi just do something nefarious or something? Because in the last, say, four hours, I’ve had what can only be called a bajillion hits off various searches for some combination of the father/son team. Seriously: of my... 2005-07-13T11:11:59Z https://kfitz.info/a-reminder/ To do tomorrow:
___ Get up.
___ Kick ass.
(Thanks to Shhh, and of course to Eddy, for this reminder, which I use whenever I need a little extra motivation in the ass-kicking... 2005-07-12T11:51:46Z https://kfitz.info/orthotics/ You haven’t heard much from me about running since the marathon. Mostly that’s because there hasn’t been any.
Actually, that’s an exaggeration. I took a week or so off to recover, and then tied the old running... 2005-07-11T16:59:26Z https://kfitz.info/byron-preiss/ Back in grad school, I did a bunch of freelance work in electronic publishing, working first for the Voyager Company, and then for 2005-07-11T15:40:40Z https://kfitz.info/scms-2006/ I’ve just posted a CFP for a panel for the 2006 meeting of the Society for Cinema and Media Studies to the SCMS bulletin board. Despite the group’s name change (from Society for Cinema Studies), there’s still a paucity of work on digital media at... 2005-07-10T11:13:47Z https://kfitz.info/things-i-saw-yesterday/ Last night, I went downtown with some folks from the college to picnic in California Plaza, before last night’s performance, in the Grand Performances series, of 2005-07-08T10:54:14Z https://kfitz.info/bloggers-need-not-apply/ I’m in a hurry this morning, needing to get myself ready to drive into LA, but I simply cannot refrain from comment on this morning’s Chronicle Careers column, “Bloggers Need Not... 2005-07-07T10:45:42Z https://kfitz.info/the-news-today/ I woke up this morning to news of the London bombings on NPR, as, I imagine, did much of the west coast. I’m devastated by this news, not least because of how much I... 2005-07-06T11:23:49Z https://kfitz.info/summer-part-two/ Today begins the second half of my summer. I’d say that it began yesterday, except that that would mean that I’ve already missed a day of the second half, and I’m already in something of a panic this morning about the fact that the summer is... 2005-07-05T01:00:18Z https://kfitz.info/home-again-but-not-alone/ The fireworks down the street have finally stopped. Six Feet Under has just ended. And I’m home again, from another great weekend, settling back in with the cats.
But we’re not alone, alas. My... 2005-07-01T12:05:01Z https://kfitz.info/post-red-eye/ All things considered, the red-eye went quite well. R. has thanked me repeatedly for flying “all night” to come out here to see him, which is extremely sweet but a little befuddling to my poor scrambled brain, because what it feels like more than... 2005-06-30T07:41:34Z https://kfitz.info/iah/ The Houston airport is an absolute wonder at 5.40 in the morning — ghostly quiet, deserted, just beginning to stir to life. Though the circumstances surrounding getting here weren’t ideal, I’m awfully glad I got to see this.
Even better,... 2005-06-30T03:11:10Z https://kfitz.info/first-the-whining/ Greetings from the twelfth circle of hell, one Dante missed on his little tour: the airport at midnight. I’m waiting for the red-eye to IAH, which is going to be a serious red-eye, as the stupid flight is only three hours long, but it’ll... 2005-06-29T18:10:05Z https://kfitz.info/but-is-he-going-to-disneyland/ What do you get the Russian president and former KGB leader who has everything? Perhaps a Super Bowl ring.
I’m not quite sure why I find this... 2005-06-28T18:23:18Z https://kfitz.info/commenting-trouble/ In my stats of late, I’ve noticed a rash (read: 2) of folks whose path through the site appears to indicate that they’re trying unsuccessfully to comment. It may be that they don’t want to leave email addresses (which my commenting system... 2005-06-28T18:04:17Z https://kfitz.info/shelves/ I found myself so discombobulated yesterday after the toe event that I couldn’t sit down and get back to work, and so instead... 2005-06-27T23:01:05Z https://kfitz.info/better-late-than-never/ Take the MIT Weblog Survey. 2005-06-27T17:09:29Z https://kfitz.info/i-hate-confrontation/ Honest to god, call me a wuss, but if there were any way I could opt never again to be in a room with people who are yelling, or in a tearful rage, I’d sign up PDQ.
As it is, I live with the fight-or-flight response produced by such... 2005-06-26T16:21:50Z https://kfitz.info/twenty-one-years/ At last, some images from the class reunion. I didn’t take many pictures of the people at the reunion, and swore to several that I wouldn’t post any pictures of them online. So... 2005-06-26T00:28:46Z https://kfitz.info/back-down-to-earth/ Djever have one of those days where you get up at like seven o’clock in the morning and pull the sheets off your bed because they’re totally overdue to be washed, and you put them in the washer and then the dryer and go about your day, and then... 2005-06-25T21:00:07Z https://kfitz.info/toys/ Today has begun the summer’s intended mad spending of money. There is, as with everything, an up side and a down side to these expenditures. The up side is that it isn’t wholly my money I’ve been spending; I’ve got a collection of small grants... 2005-06-24T12:01:07Z https://kfitz.info/how-i-always-manage-to-overload-myself/ You know what I love? Designing new classes. I love sitting at my computer with about ten browser tabs running, each with some bibliographic source or somebody else’s online syllabus, just imagining possibilities: what if I paired the Bush and... 2005-06-22T14:35:41Z https://kfitz.info/deconstruction/ So I’ve finally given in and drunk the kool-aid, and have uploaded my first photoset to flickr. 2005-06-21T23:35:21Z https://kfitz.info/reunited/ So the storied twenty-one year high school reunion has come and gone. And I have to say, I had way more fun than I imagined I would. It was a bit of a blur — there are dozens of people I’d have liked... 2005-06-19T14:59:31Z https://kfitz.info/anniversaries/ I’m not usually one for remembering anniversaries, my own or other people’s. I’m not sure why. It’s not that milestones don’t register with me; call it a problem of data storage and retrieval.
The reason I mention this now is that... 2005-06-17T10:30:48Z https://kfitz.info/ont-to-btr/ The travel day yesterday went completely smoothly, utterly without any of the usual delays and aggravations. But there’s a moment I need to share, about a homecoming of a very different order.
There was an Army sergeant on the IAH-BTR leg... 2005-06-16T10:46:49Z https://kfitz.info/flaherty-day-five/ Yesterday was a fabulous day at documentary boot camp, and a very good note for me to go out on. There are, in fact, two more days to go in the Flaherty, but I’m off to Louisiana this morning. And though I’m a little burned out, I’m still... 2005-06-15T11:45:49Z https://kfitz.info/flaherty-day-four/ Another foreshortened day at the Flaherty; in the middle of the afternoon screening, I began developing a massive headache, so when it was over, I headed home, took a nap, had a quiet dinner, and did some reading. Print is so soothing after such... 2005-06-14T11:24:25Z https://kfitz.info/flaherty-day-three/ A shorter day at documentary bootcamp yesterday; I only caught the beginning of the evening session, as I wanted to get home and relax a bit. The films are amazing, but the pace is intense, and I needed a bit more downtime.
Anyhow,... 2005-06-13T16:40:46Z https://kfitz.info/after-further-thought/ After further thought, I’ve decided that there was something more to last night’s film than I’ve given it credit for, and that the protracted nature of its brutal imagery was up to something more serious than what it seemed, on first glance.... 2005-06-13T10:54:30Z https://kfitz.info/flaherty-day-two/ [UPDATE 6.14.05, 8.27 am: edit to correct stupid day/date mistakes.]
Yesterday was an up-and-down day at documentary boot camp — more up than down, though it ended on a stunningly bad note.

Sunday, June 12, 9.00... 2005-06-12T09:27:26Z https://kfitz.info/documentary-boot-camp/ [UPDATE, 6.14.05, 8.28 am: edit to correct stupid day/date mistake.]
This week, the 51st Robert Flaherty Film Seminar is being held here in town, and so I’m embroiled in what feels... 2005-06-10T16:36:51Z https://kfitz.info/a-couple-of-updates/ A quick update on that music meme there: I’ve discovered another excellent way to keep up with the hip kids and their music — serve as thesis advisor for the radio station’s music director. I got some great recommendations from him that I’ll be... 2005-06-08T14:45:39Z https://kfitz.info/ack/ I just got what is without question — and by an astronomical degree — the WORST set of teaching evaluations I’ve ever gotten. These come from my graduate cultural studies seminar, which I will here admit I totally phoned in all semester. The... 2005-06-07T21:15:46Z https://kfitz.info/wherein-i-actually-complete-one-of-those-meme-thingies/ My old pal BT passed me this musical-meme baton a while back, but I not only managed to let the damned thing drop, I kinda stopped in my tracks, hands on hips, staring at it, thinking... 2005-06-06T10:47:54Z https://kfitz.info/moving-on/ As evidenced by yesterday’s meandery post, I’ve been trying over the last few days to face my sense of directionlessness, thinking through it as something other than a crisis, or a cause for alarm, but nonetheless trying... 2005-06-05T08:11:03Z https://kfitz.info/meandering/ So as I’ve mentioned before, this is the summer I finally get to reap the benefits of having gotten tenure; I’m free to think, to read, to explore as I see fit. The thing about such freedom, though, is that it can be disorienting, particularly for... 2005-06-03T11:28:50Z https://kfitz.info/fighting-aids-in-mozambique/ A former student of mine, Adam Graham-Silverman, recently spent five weeks in Mozambique as an International Reporting Project Fellow, through Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International... 2005-06-02T13:51:06Z https://kfitz.info/msy-to-bwi/ The return, thus far, is going more smoothly than the venture out. For one thing, this is perhaps the first time that I’ve traveled at entirely reasonable hours — neither getting up well before dawn nor getting in after my usual bedtime — in... 2005-05-30T07:08:18Z https://kfitz.info/bwi-to-msy/ Frequent flyer summer continues today with a quick dash to Louisiana to see my pal Marcus. I decided at the last minute to drag the Powerbook with me, but given that I’m... 2005-05-28T21:54:29Z https://kfitz.info/instant-gratification/ This has been a quiet week, hereabouts, in no small part because I spent the first four days of it taking the first of the classes I hope to take this summer. By the end of an intensive day sitting six inches away from an aged, flickering CRT, I... 2005-05-24T08:36:01Z https://kfitz.info/dennis-lehane-a-drink-before-the-war/ At Steve’s urging, I picked up Dennis Lehane’s first novel for my trip to DC, and am happy now to second that recommendation. This first of the Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro novels introduces many of the tropes that resurface in his work to... 2005-05-23T08:51:00Z https://kfitz.info/deadwood/ I admit this morning I’m pretty astonished. Season 2 of Deadwood was astonishing throughout, but I just didn’t see the final episode coming together terribly well. There were just so many subplots, and so many of them had become either maudlin or... 2005-05-22T08:38:17Z https://kfitz.info/follow-ups/ Purely FYI, IYI —
— These turn out to be cysts, as I’d expected.
— This one is growing back in nicely.
— This one... 2005-05-21T09:32:57Z https://kfitz.info/the-archived-self/ BT hits on something in the comments to a previous post that I want to bring up to top-level:

My point is that my own experience of knowing you... 2005-05-20T08:15:12Z https://kfitz.info/snark-and-the-chronicle/ Here’s something I wouldn’t quite have expected to see: the Chronicle of Higher Education actively making fun of an institution of… well, higher education. (Subscription required,... 2005-05-19T16:02:12Z https://kfitz.info/something-you-want-to-tell-us-maybe/ Should I be concerned that somebody with the IP address of a midwestern regional airlines found my site by googling “Pan Am 759”? (Here’s the 2005-05-18T17:06:03Z https://kfitz.info/hiding-in-plain-sight/ So the summer has now really and truly begun: the freeway sprints are over, my students have graduated, my desk has been cleaned off, and I’ve split for the east coast. Things have been quiet and lazy so far, which is much needed; the end of the... 2005-05-14T17:25:29Z https://kfitz.info/graduation/ This is a mighty busy weekend, under normal circumstances, but this weekend is decidedly not normal. Theoretically, today is Class Day — departmental receptions for graduating seniors in the morning; big awards ceremony in the afternoon. Tomorrow... 2005-05-11T19:33:06Z https://kfitz.info/free-2/ I finished yesterday. Filed the grades and everything. Summer began today.
I’m leaving aside the part where it began with jackhammers outside my bedroom window at 7.30 am, a fact about which I wish I were kidding. Instead, I’m going to say... 2005-05-10T11:16:52Z https://kfitz.info/harbingers/ So in my evening down-time, which I’ve actually had some of over the last week, as I try to clear my head from all the grading (which, by the way:
— 2 graduate Cultural Studies projects
— 9 Media Studies term papers
so I... 2005-05-09T10:38:50Z https://kfitz.info/how-not-to-graduate/ Remaining:
— 5 graduate Cultural Studies projects
— 12 Media Studies term papers
I’m still holding out hope that today’s the day.
On a not-unrelated note: I’ve been heard to complain, over the last few days, that my... 2005-05-07T20:42:40Z https://kfitz.info/further-updates-and-into-the-summer/ Remaining:
— 5 graduate Cultural Studies projects
— 22 Media Studies term papers
Not bad. It’s not out of the question that I could be done by Monday.
As usual, though, the nearness of the finish line is resulting in my... 2005-05-06T12:37:12Z https://kfitz.info/the-countdown-updated/ What remains:
— 12 graduate Cultural Studies projects
— 28 Media Studies term papers
And I’m cranking along. Alas, I have four hours of meetings with the board of trustees ahead today, so today’s accomplishments are likely to... 2005-05-05T17:17:30Z https://kfitz.info/leaning-shelves/ So I’ve been thinking about my home work space a bunch lately, in part because I’m about to get a new desktop computer (on which subject, more later), and I’m not sure I’ve got an optimal set-up right now. My desk is in a very small niche, just... 2005-05-05T09:54:19Z https://kfitz.info/before-i-get-ahead-of-myself/ The semester-proper is now over; yesterday was the last day of classes. But there’s some grading yet to be done before all that summer travel can launch:
— 1/2 of the last senior thesis
— 16 graduate Cultural Studies... 2005-05-03T11:47:42Z https://kfitz.info/summer-travel/ Claremont is lovely. My job is fabulous. My students are wonderful.
But I can’t wait to get the heck out of here.
Summer plans are consolidating, and here’s the schedule thus far:
May 16 – May 30: DC
May 30 – June 2:... 2005-05-02T12:45:06Z https://kfitz.info/the-grading-count/ What must be done, before the summer can begin:
— read 6 senior theses (5 of which have been turned in)
— grade 26 Race, Gender, and Science Fiction term papers (25 of which have been turned in)
— grade 33 Media Studies term papers... 2005-04-30T22:57:37Z https://kfitz.info/how-not-to-begin-a-weekend/ I’ve been in a positively vile mood all day today; chalk it up to a very trying afternoon of senior thesis presentations yesterday (which I shouldn’t write about here, given my heavy student readership, but about which I will say that 6 of 12 were... 2005-04-28T10:51:59Z https://kfitz.info/warning-this-post-is-all-about-boobs-but-not-in-a-good-way/ So I spent several hours yesterday having my boobs crushed in order to have various pictures of their insides taken.
Actually, it was only one boob, and the crushing part of the festivities didn’t last all that long. For those of you who... 2005-04-27T10:38:51Z https://kfitz.info/how-rss-killed-my-blog/ About a month ago, I very, very belatedly hopped the Bloglines train, putting together a tidy pile of feeds and using them to keep up with all my favorite blogs. It was a bit of a... 2005-04-19T15:23:44Z https://kfitz.info/marcus-they-dont-want-us-back/ So I was at home this morning, getting dressed to my usual KCRW soundtrack, when the station cut away to CNN’s audio feed, covering the announcement of the new 2005-04-15T14:27:22Z https://kfitz.info/my-next-book/ I’ve just figured out what the title of my next book ought to be, and it’s my referrer logs and googlings that have told me so: 2005-04-15T10:15:19Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-internet-everybody-knows-youre-a-dog/ Just heard a story on Morning Edition reporting on a push by federal officials to force domain-name owners to identify themselves accurately in the WHOIS database, a... 2005-04-12T11:27:16Z https://kfitz.info/never-grade-papers-again/ In yesterday’s mail, the following, from Educause:

COMPUTER APPLICATION GRADES ESSAYS
A professor at the University of Missouri has developed a computer application that grades papers and offers advice on writing. Ed Brent,... 2005-04-11T11:45:36Z https://kfitz.info/same-song-third-verse/ Why, oh why, do I persist in flying through Houston?
Actually, it’s not the flying-through-Houston part that’s the problem; it’s the expecting to do so without incident part. I need to settle myself into the knowledge that every Sunday... 2005-04-07T14:15:48Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-airport/ Here’s a sign of how spoiled I’ve become: I’m sitting in the President’s Club in the Houston airport, using the free wi-fi, and bitching and moaning because the coverage in the lounge is a little spotty, and for a while my connection kept... 2005-04-07T01:51:42Z https://kfitz.info/here-i-am/ So everybody’s on about the Google satellite maps feature, which I’ll admit, is mighty groovy. It’s wonderful and disorienting seeing that eye-in-the-sky view of the mundane places in which my everyday life is carried out. But despite all that... 2005-04-06T11:35:08Z https://kfitz.info/saul-bellow-1915-2005/ News of the latest in the recent flood of notable passings reached me late last night: Saul Bellow is... 2005-04-05T11:46:49Z https://kfitz.info/catching-up/ There’s something very satisfying about scratching things off a list, particularly when they’ve hung around that list for much longer than they ought. Knocked off two senior thesis drafts over the weekend, and just finished a household task that... 2005-04-04T12:41:10Z https://kfitz.info/where-am-i/ Why, roughly 34.095, -117.719.[1] Of course.
I’ve gotten a new toy in the last few days, and I’m just the teeniest bit obsessed with it: the 2005-04-03T12:10:00Z https://kfitz.info/an-illustration-if-you-needed-one/ So, moved as I was yesterday by the solemn, sonorous tolling of the bells at the church just a block from me, whose bell tower I can see from my... 2005-04-02T17:39:31Z https://kfitz.info/one-holy-catholic-and-apostolic-church/ I’ve spent the morning sitting on my balcony reading student papers and enjoying the quiet. The church two blocks from me had been ringing its bells for about two minutes before I realized that it wasn’t noon, and wasn’t Sunday, and there wasn’t a... 2005-04-02T16:22:04Z https://kfitz.info/rip-so-to-speak/ I report with heavy heart that my right second toenail passed from this world yesterday morning, 1 April 2005, at approximately 10.15 am, Pacific time. Friends and family were by its side as it found, at... 2005-04-01T13:48:06Z https://kfitz.info/aw-shucks/ Support has been coming to me from all over in the last few days, from Eric’s comment on the original whiny post, to Jason’s comment on the followup, to several email messages and conversations with colleagues and friends. Most moving to me in all... 2005-04-01T04:10:26Z https://kfitz.info/the-saga-of-the-toenail/ So it’s clearly time to stop thinking about all this pointless, whiny nonsense about my “career,” and whether or not any recent markers of “success” or “failure” indicate that perhaps I’ve made some colossal “miscalculation” about whether I was in... 2005-03-31T03:30:21Z https://kfitz.info/regrets/ I’ve never deleted a post from the site before, and somehow I can’t quite bring myself to do so now. But I am moving the previous post below the fold, because I don’t want to have to look at it. I feel like a real schmuck, and I need to find a way... 2005-03-30T18:33:17Z https://kfitz.info/an-utterly-self-indulgent-moment-of-whining/ [UPDATE, 3.30.05, 10.30 pm: Post moved below fold. Details in post to follow.]
How do you cope with having a colleague who has been crowned the official poster-boy for Research Super-Geniusness when you can’t get anybody to pay attention to... 2005-03-30T03:13:21Z https://kfitz.info/package-tracking-via-rss/ This may be just about the coolest thing ever:

We are pleased to announce our newest feature, package tracking. Now, you can have Bloglines track the status of your UPS,... 2005-03-29T17:45:37Z https://kfitz.info/and-the-moral-of-the-story-is/ Be careful who you ask to write your papers for you.
Better yet, write them yourself! It’s far less trouble. 2005-03-29T02:43:34Z https://kfitz.info/almost-familiar/ On the way home tonight, I heard a DJ on KCRW refer to a new film that’s out as “a story replete with sex and cultural theory.”
And after I stopped laughing, the first... 2005-03-28T14:05:21Z https://kfitz.info/the-skeev-factor/ Okay, the world is determined to leave me running around with a permanent case of the willies. Last night I went to the grocery store, and you know how they print those coupons at the end of ringing you up, tailored to the kind of stuff you’re... 2005-03-27T14:59:24Z https://kfitz.info/lines-fine-and-not-so-fine/ Where is the line between being that cool professor who shows up to student events and that skeezy professor who used to be cool but still shows up to stuff? Is it 40? Tenure? Marriage?
Wherever the line lies — and it’s a preciously fine... 2005-03-24T22:01:00Z https://kfitz.info/probably-the-dumbest-tech-related-question-ever/ Here’s the thing: I’ve resisted the whole syndication wave for eons. I’ve provided various feeds for this site, mostly because the software made it really easy, but also because I knew there were folks out there who I wanted to keep up with the... 2005-03-24T20:01:11Z https://kfitz.info/blogrolling-problem/ Why are my blogrolling.com pings suddenly producing database errors? There, I mean, not here. Other folks’s blogs are showing up as updated in my blogroll; is this retribution for the Foghat debacle? 2005-03-24T15:46:27Z https://kfitz.info/i-do-rock-hard-but-not-that-hard/ From my pal BT, comes word of a dangerous ripple in the blog/reality interface. A couple of weeks ago, after my back-self-patting assertion of my general rockin’ status, BT generously 2005-03-22T12:41:55Z https://kfitz.info/the-state-of-the-blog/ GZombie wrote a few days ago about his concern that his blog had jumped the shark, and I’ve got to admit, I’ve been wondering something of the same thing about Planned Obsolescence over... 2005-03-18T11:11:42Z https://kfitz.info/confessions/ I’ve been watching since the beginning of the year, I think — yes, in fact, my first sighting was Liz back on January 4 — as first one and then another of my... 2005-03-16T12:21:21Z https://kfitz.info/so-far-so-good-2/ Break has thus far been a great thing, though I’m appalled, as always, by the speed with which it is rushing past. I’m holed up here in NoVa working my way through the book, trying to clarify a couple of key points. Exhaustion, though, or at least... 2005-03-12T14:45:02Z https://kfitz.info/break/ The good news first: I’ve finally gotten close to caught up on sleep. I’ve managed to get through almost all of the dumb administrative tasks that have landed on my desk in the last two weeks. And it’s officially spring break, so I’m packing up... 2005-03-08T22:24:55Z https://kfitz.info/delayed-onset-muscle-soreness/ Oh, yeah. Things that felt perfectly fine 48 hours ago are now whining and complaining. And my knees look like water balloons. And I feel as though I could crawl into bed and stay there for a couple of days, given the opportunity. But other than... 2005-03-07T16:35:54Z https://kfitz.info/thanks/ Thanks, everybody, for the kind congrats. They mean a lot. Particularly being compared to Foghat. Man, I haven’t even thought about Foghat in a decade, at least.
Thanks, too, to Ogged for his 2005-03-06T20:32:40Z https://kfitz.info/how-it-went/ Before I go collapse, a quick update. I had three goals set for the marathon (whose name I am able to speak for the first time in two weeks):
— The fairly-likely-to-make-it goal: just finishing.
— The if-everything-goes-well goal:... 2005-03-05T18:10:51Z https://kfitz.info/carbolicious/ There are not many moments in this post-Atkins world in which I can indulge in my most favored comfort food — macaroni and cheese — utterly without guilt.
I am having one of those moments. And... 2005-03-02T03:35:11Z https://kfitz.info/synchronicity/ I remember these lovely moments from college, moments that continued into grad school, though without quite the wonder they’d earlier produced. Moments at which it seemed that all my classes were suddenly speaking to one another, and I’d get a... 2005-02-24T13:00:19Z https://kfitz.info/more-marcus/ My great friend Marcus, who has popped up around these parts periodically, has finally launched his own site, MarcusMcAllister.com. There you can see a wide range of Marcus’s... 2005-02-22T17:26:10Z https://kfitz.info/leaky/ The leak in my garage continues unabated, through three plumbers who can’t seem to figure out what the problem is, when I keep telling them that the leak isn’t coming from my condo, it’s only ending up in my condo. They run my... 2005-02-20T22:51:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-14/ Mileage for week: 16 (was meant to be 28)
Number of run days: 2 (was meant to be 4)
Long run for week: 13
Aches, pains, complaints: I’m tired. Seriously tired. And overstressed. And tired. I made it through my 13 today, though... 2005-02-20T13:49:54Z https://kfitz.info/editing/ Is it a problem to have produced a 6800-word outline for a 5000-word essay?
(The good news is that I somewhat arbitrarily set the word-limit myself, so I can probably violate it at will. The other good news is that the essay is, by and... 2005-02-17T13:51:49Z https://kfitz.info/this-weekend/ Things that must get done in the next four days:
— Write 5000-word essay on critical methodologies in literary interpretation for Intro to Literature anthology.
— Comment on senior thesis chapter.
— Grade second batch of... 2005-02-16T03:18:28Z https://kfitz.info/must-write-again/ ‘Djever have one of those days where you find yourself expending energy trying to make everybody happy and only succeed in pissing everybody off?
Yeah, me neither.
A colleague of mine who’s been reading around in here noted the other... 2005-02-14T12:24:12Z https://kfitz.info/word-to-the-wise/ If you have one of those weekends where you have a big pile of work to do — say, a couple of books to read and a stack of papers to grade — and intend to do something ridiculous like run 17 miles on Sunday, don’t leave half of the work undone on... 2005-02-13T18:15:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-13/ Mileage for week: 29
Number of run days: 4
Long run for week: 17
Aches, pains, complaints: I just got back in from that 17, so this is probably not the best taking-stock moment ever — but good gravy, everything hurts. The 17... 2005-02-12T22:29:04Z https://kfitz.info/ahhhhhh/ I was just about to head out the door to a party a few minutes ago, when I got a phone call from James Earl Jones telling me that my DSL was ready.
It’s the most remarkable thing: I click on links, and... 2005-02-12T13:52:35Z https://kfitz.info/a-plea-for-geek-advice/ If you’re still reading after that title, thanks already.
Here’s the deal: For the last two and a half years, I’ve been living in campus housing, in which pretty much every room was hardwired onto the campus network. There was thus no... 2005-02-11T16:43:11Z https://kfitz.info/kernel-panic/ So, my first-generation flat-panel iMac at home crashed this morning, for the first time in at least a year. I’d rebooted the machine about three weeks ago, but only because of the move; unless I’m updating software, there’s never any reason for... 2005-02-08T16:04:03Z https://kfitz.info/whats-going-on/ Things that have been happening of late, or are happening in my immediate future, that prevent me from doing any substantive writing, a fact which is beginning to make me chafe a bit, but that ought to be ameliorated in the days to come:
—... 2005-02-06T18:21:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-12/ Mileage for week: 17 (was meant to be 11+)
Number of run days: 3
Long run for week: 10 (wasn’t specified; was meant to be a tune-up race)
Aches, pains, complaints: Ay. The 14-miler of last Sunday left me a bit more battered... 2005-02-04T16:32:05Z https://kfitz.info/update-number-two-the-contract/ I’d heard this was coming about a week and a half ago, but like the Jewish taboo on pre-birth baby gifts, I couldn’t celebrate it until hard copy was well in hand: I have a contract for my book!
I don’t have an estimated publication date... 2005-02-03T19:51:49Z https://kfitz.info/update-number-one-the-condo/ So, for my first update on old business: I’m entirely settled into the condo, though I’ve spent even less time there over the last week than I did before the movers showed up. Things are almost entirely unpacked, with the exception of my workspace... 2005-02-01T15:51:51Z https://kfitz.info/this-is-not-what-i-need/ So I arrived at work this morning to discover that an old class blog of mine got hit overnight with a cluster bomb of comment and trackback spam. And, alas, it’s running on MT 2.6, so I’m having to go through and delete and close comments and... 2005-01-30T15:44:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-11/ Wait, hold up. Week 11? What happened to weeks 9 and 10?
You don’t want to know.
Um, in fact, yes. Yes, I do.
*Sigh.* Week 9 started well. I had four runs... 2005-01-24T23:03:09Z https://kfitz.info/newsflash-blogs-moving-into-academia/ I just received this via my pals at Educause:

BLOGS MOVING INTO ACADEMIA
On a number of campuses in the United Kingdom, blogs have begun to migrate from the technology fringes to the... 2005-01-19T14:14:35Z https://kfitz.info/the-other-thing/ The other thing is that moving makes it completely impossible to do anything else other than move. Because I can’t find any of the stuff that I need to do it with.
Posting’s likely to be a little light here for a while, given that (1) I’m... 2005-01-16T20:57:49Z https://kfitz.info/theorem/ It takes moving to demonstrate to yourself how bad a housekeeper you really are. 2005-01-13T14:45:25Z https://kfitz.info/a-moving-rohrschach-test/ Two parts:
1. You’re about to move house, and you’re dying to be in your new digs. You’re lucky enough to have access to the new place a full week before you really have to be out of the old place, so you figure you’ll schlep some stuff... 2005-01-10T22:15:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-8/ Mileage for week: 4 (was meant to be 20)
Number of run days: 1 (was meant to be 4)
Long run for week: 4 (was meant to be 8)
Aches, pains, complaints: Abort! Abort! Abort! This was a disastrous week, beginning with the bloody... 2005-01-08T23:09:29Z https://kfitz.info/more-adventures-in-travel/ Why is it that I invariably return from a big trip with some crazy travel saga? And why is it that so many of those sagas revolve around Washington, DC? I’m only halfway back to SoCal now, and so probably shouldn’t yet start telling the tale, as... 2005-01-07T15:26:42Z https://kfitz.info/some-people-never-learn/ It’s not as if I didn’t have prior evidence to go on; no, me, I apparently need repeated confirmation of the fact that the Sour Apple Martini is Not My Friend. 2005-01-06T15:58:27Z https://kfitz.info/wow/ Take that, LJ-hating-type snobs.
Or that, or 2005-01-06T13:45:01Z https://kfitz.info/alias-season-4/ So how much you wanna bet that this APO thing turns out to have some super-secret evil underside? Because just like that Vadik/Tomazaki guy says, the best place to hide evil-doing is right out there in the open. And how much more unsubtle can you... 2005-01-04T18:19:05Z https://kfitz.info/as-a-demonstration-of-how-much-work-ive-gotten-done-today/ I’m contemplating a switch from Safari to Firefox, but am hampered by the fact that This Very Site displays crappily therein. The top banner here is composed of a DIV with a background color of the blue you see at left, and said DIV contains a... 2005-01-04T14:14:45Z https://kfitz.info/why-things-might-be-a-little-quiet-around-here-for-the-next-few-days-gods-willing/ Though what I really need to do, as G Zombie suggests, is lighten up on my blog reading, rather than writing, which has already become pretty desultory as it is, I nonetheless... 2005-01-03T12:23:22Z https://kfitz.info/utilities/ So here’s the good news: the utilities transferred easily; everything will be in my name as of tomorrow, no sweat.
But there’s one little complication left to be dealt with: the phone. Last time I had a non-college phone, there was no... 2005-01-03T11:27:01Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-7/ Mileage for week: 26
Number of run days: 5
Long run for week: 10
Aches, pains, complaints: Oh, man. What doesn’t hurt? I did my first ten-miler yesterday (admittedly interspersed with short walking breaks), and the run was... 2005-01-01T14:52:11Z https://kfitz.info/this-time-last-year/ Last New Year’s Eve, I spent some time counting my blessings over a big pot of gumbo and an Angel marathon, and then spent the first day... 2004-12-30T16:44:32Z https://kfitz.info/stupid-bloody-toe/ Sigh. I just finished today’s run, which was harder than I’d have liked, mostly because of the vast quantities of beer and ice cream I consumed yesterday in celebration of my official entry into the ranks of the real-estate-owning bourgeoisie. But... 2004-12-29T16:37:00Z https://kfitz.info/on-procrastination/ What I’m supposed to be doing during break:

Updating a grant proposal for our development folks
Finishing the Media Studies program’s self-study report
Finishing a long-overdue article on Richard... 2004-12-29T14:41:24Z https://kfitz.info/something-that-cant-reflect-too-well-on-me-im-sure/ Why is it that, at the same time I’m reading a story in which it’s announced that the death toll in the South Asian earthquake and tsunami now tops 80,000, and is... 2004-12-28T18:22:08Z https://kfitz.info/susan-sontag-1933-2004/ According to the New York Times, Susan Sontag died today of complications from acute myelogenous... 2004-12-28T16:18:22Z https://kfitz.info/new-feature-gallery/ I’ve been poking around all day in the recent upgrade to ExpressionEngine, which I installed yesterday. The major add-on in this release is a new image gallery module, which I’ve decided to... 2004-12-26T22:05:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-6/ Mileage for week: 24
Number of run days: 5
Long run for week: 8
Aches, pains, complaints: I’m much too blown up from that eight-miler, which I just did a couple of hours ago, to have any real sense of how I’m doing. I got all... 2004-12-25T17:45:10Z https://kfitz.info/merry-merry/ Hear that?
…
That is the sound of the complete absence of my family from the immediate vicinity. Let’s all just enjoy it for a minute, shall we?
…
Ahhhh.
I’m sitting in the President’s Club in the... 2004-12-20T16:28:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-5/ Mileage for week: 21
Number of run days: 4
Long run for week: 7
Aches, pains, complaints: This was supposed to be a 22-mile, 5-run day week, but the grading and the condo and the travel and the family interfered, so I took two... 2004-12-17T04:27:15Z https://kfitz.info/done/ Well, finished, at least. Grades are turned in, and everything that needed to get read got read (and please don’t ask me to be more specific about that). And just in the nick of time, as I’m now madly doing a last load of laundry and... 2004-12-16T13:06:17Z https://kfitz.info/something-you-dont-want-to-hear-five-hours-before-your-walk-through/ “KF? This is A., from the O. Company? I know you’re coming in at one o’clock today, and I’m just calling to let you know that we had a little leak in your unit last night, but there was no damage. We just want everything to be up front. It was the... 2004-12-15T01:37:09Z https://kfitz.info/updated-count/ (11 x 100-page screenplays) + (8 x 20-page term papers) = two very long days before I leave town

[UPDATE to the Update, 12.11 am, 12.15.04: 3 term papers remain. I’ve had much caffeine, and so may attempt to press... 2004-12-13T14:39:25Z https://kfitz.info/how-not-to-get-it-done/ First, figure out how much of it there is to do:

(11 x 100-page screenplays) + (25 x 20-page term papers) + (4 x remaining grad-school recommendation letters) = Holy Effing Crap

Find yourself so daunted by... 2004-12-12T17:01:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-4/ Mileage for week: 15
Number of run days: 5
Long run for week: 3
Aches, pains, complaints: This was a lower-mileage week designed to get me over the hump from running four days a week to running five. It went okay, though that... 2004-12-06T16:35:05Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-13-small-things/ As I expected, work is continuing apace on the condo, but the changes, though significant, are mostly small. There are some larger things happening, such as the installation of the bathroom counters and sinks (witness here the righthand side of... 2004-12-05T14:24:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-3/ Mileage for week: 18
Number of run days: 4
Long run for week: 6
Aches, pains, complaints: Ach. Mostly I’m just tired and a bit grumpy. But I’ve been having a little trouble with my hips and lower back, so I’ve had to step up... 2004-11-30T03:20:49Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-12-the-late-night-too-sleepy-edition/ Let the general whining about being too busy to post commence: I’ve been too busy to post today.
But the whining is too boring even to me, and so I’ll just call a halt to it there.
Except to say that one of the things that I was also... 2004-11-29T00:33:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-2/ Mileage for week: 16
Number of run days: 4
Long run for week: 5
Aches, pains, complaints: None, really. A bit tired, but that’s mostly the travel, and the overeating. It’s astonishing how much difference lugging an extra three... 2004-11-26T09:56:14Z https://kfitz.info/for-the-blessings-we-are-about-to-receive/ Despite last year’s suspicion that this year’s Thanksgiving would be spent with my family, at the usual New Jersey Italian feast, things changed. My mother decided to stay in Louisiana; my sister decided to join... 2004-11-22T14:02:23Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-11-the-kitchen/ I walked down to check on the condo’s progress yesterday afternoon, and stumbled across a colleague, who came to check the place out with me. This was the first time that anyone other than R. has seen the joint, so I was pleased when I discovered... 2004-11-21T15:11:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-1/ Mileage for week: 15
Number of run days: 4
Long run for week: 4
Aches, pains, complaints: A little tired, but that’s got far less to do with the running than it does with the insanity of this week’s work schedule. The running,... 2004-11-18T13:25:37Z https://kfitz.info/one-website-to-rule-them-all/ As if enough of my life weren’t already spent googling, there now comes — and I kid you not — Google Scholar, wherein one can ostensibly search for scholarly literature, including “peer-reviewed papers,... 2004-11-18T00:06:57Z https://kfitz.info/um-excuse-me/ So I walk out of the building tonight on my way home to find that the intersection I have to walk through at College and Sixth is cordoned off, and surrounded by fire trucks and cops and campus safety and all kinds of other nervous looking guys.... 2004-11-17T22:21:53Z https://kfitz.info/the-state-of-the-profession/ Via George (and, as he points out, a host of sources before him), the Guardian’s article, Cracks in... 2004-11-15T13:31:53Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-10-the-arrival-of-the-cabinets/ Yes, that’s right: the cabinets are in!
In a big pile in the living room, that is:

There also begin to be doors, much like this one, which leads to the... 2004-11-14T18:05:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-log-week-0/ Actual marathon training begins tomorrow; this week was a so-called “base” week, making sure that all was in shape for the gradually intensifying training of the next 16 weeks. I’m hoping that reporting in here will keep me honest and on-track,... 2004-11-12T22:16:59Z https://kfitz.info/how-lucky-am-i/ This lucky: I had a mildly crappy day yesterday, and was feeling sorry for myself, and so R. bought a plane ticket to fly down to Atlanta and hang out with me for the weekend.
I’ve got the best boy ever. That’s seriously lucky. 2004-11-11T15:30:25Z https://kfitz.info/world-on-fire/ I’m a little more than a month behind the zeitgeist, apparently, but I just got a link to Sarah McLachlan’s World on Fire video, and want to point any of you who haven’t seen it yet toward it. McLachlan... 2004-11-11T01:53:41Z https://kfitz.info/greeting-from-the-panopticon/ I’ve arrived and checked into the Atlanta Hyatt Regency. Forgive me for what follows; it’s a deeply unprofessional conference entry, but for whatever reason, it occurred to me as I was walking to my room, and I can’t shake the idea.
Now, I... 2004-11-10T13:04:51Z https://kfitz.info/ick/ You know that feeling where you’re eating in a restaurant, and you bite into a piece of stir-fried chicken, and you can immediately tell that it’s been insufficiently stir-fried, and all you can think of is how you have to travel tomorrow, and you... 2004-11-08T01:55:26Z https://kfitz.info/atlanta-bound/ I’ve just completed a draft of the paper I’ll be giving at next weekend’s American Studies Association conference in Atlanta. It’s on the relationship between simulation and empiricism in 2004-11-06T13:03:00Z https://kfitz.info/running-again/ Seven years ago, I did something pretty astonishing, for me, something I never thought I’d be able to accomplish: I ran the New York Marathon. I finished a good bit slower than I wanted to, in no small... 2004-11-04T12:28:52Z https://kfitz.info/the-view-from-there/ Rory’s posted his take on all things U.S.-electoral, and it’s absolutely mesmerizing. Almost dizzying.
There’s something about the graphic, too, that makes me wonder if the... 2004-11-03T14:04:15Z https://kfitz.info/rethinking/ So, I’ve done a bit of reading, and a bit of thinking, and taken a nice shower, and cleared my head a bit. And I’ve got two somewhat contradictory things to say now.
The first is that I now understand, viscerally, how my American Government... 2004-11-03T10:31:17Z https://kfitz.info/toronto-is-definitely-my-kinda-town/ I hear Vancouver’s very nice, too. 2004-11-02T12:02:39Z https://kfitz.info/vote-early-and-often/ By which invocation of the ethos of my former home, I do not mean to invite voter fraud. Nothing of the sort. Merely some good advice: get to the polls early, when lines are shortest, and vote every time you have the opportunity. 2004-11-01T15:49:17Z https://kfitz.info/why-long-distance/ Something I forgot to mention: the state of Vermont was so welcoming that it simply did not want me to leave. Or something. The result may have been the most bipolar travel day I’ve ever had, bouncing between panic and relief, fury and amazement,... 2004-11-01T14:15:38Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-9-long-distance-edition/ Last time we popped by the soon-to-be homestead, we discovered that the stuccoing had begun.

In fact, the building was frozen in... 2004-10-29T16:32:23Z https://kfitz.info/a-vermont-of-the-mind/ Greetings from Vermont.

I’m here for a Mellon-sponsored workshop on Cinema and Media... 2004-10-28T07:42:42Z https://kfitz.info/boston-is-definitely-my-kinda-town/ It’s 4.24 am as I begin this entry. I’m sitting in the Ontario (California; you have no idea how many times I’ve been asked for my passport when trying to fly here) airport, availing myself of the free wi-fi, feeling mighty blessed, the hour... 2004-10-27T16:08:41Z https://kfitz.info/andrew-sullivan-why-i-am-supporting-john-kerry/ And I say unto you, holy moly. 2004-10-27T13:23:17Z https://kfitz.info/protecting-your-right-to-vote/ I’ve just gotten an email message from my pals at MoveOn.org about dealing with potential voting rights infringements next Tuesday, and while I expect that many of the like-minded readers of this site already get... 2004-10-25T13:12:46Z https://kfitz.info/more-meta-blogging/ Here’s something odd: a screenshot of my recent keyword analysis, looking at what searches have brought folks hither, from yon.
(image missing)
I’m trying to decide whether to be heartened by this. It’s got to be good news, right,... 2004-10-25T09:37:57Z https://kfitz.info/out-of-the-garden/ This weekend, I discovered and zapped the first two pieces of this (dare not even to mention the name) that have appeared here since the migration. I’ve zapped, as I said, and I’ve updated the blacklist. But now... 2004-10-20T22:55:16Z https://kfitz.info/chalk-one-up-for-my-powers-of-prediction/ I’m pleased to admit, here (the Internet) and now (approximately 7.55 pm, Wednesday, October 20), that I declared the ALCS “over” last Saturday, after the Yankees went up 3-0 in the series, having shellacked the Sox 19 to 8.
I’ll also... 2004-10-19T11:59:40Z https://kfitz.info/what-i-did-during-my-fall-break/ It’s actually not yet over, fall break, that glorious moment marking the halfway point of the semester. It’s brief, a mere two days, but if (like me) you already don’t teach on Friday, having Monday and Tuesday off can result in a beautiful... 2004-10-19T00:14:00Z https://kfitz.info/sara-paretsky-blacklist/ At last! I’m posting! About a book! A book I read! For fun!
I bought Sara Paretsky’s Blacklist in the airport bookstore as I was departing for Sussex. I also picked up James Lee Burke’s Last Car to Elysian Fields. I devoured them both, the... 2004-10-18T22:50:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-wire/ Okay, so no shock: it’s an HBO Sunday night drama, and I’m there. I have to say, though, The Wire started out a little rockily for me in the first season–so many characters, so many streetnames, so hard to keep everybody straight–but I nonetheless... 2004-10-18T22:34:00Z https://kfitz.info/ron-suskind-without-a-doubt/ I recognize that I’m the million-and-oneth blogger to link to this, but for all our sakes, if you haven’t yet read it, go read Ron Suskind’s New York Times Sunday Magazine profile of Dubya. It’s astonishing, to say the least. 2004-10-18T14:03:22Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-8-fall-break-edition/ This past week we experienced three major developments in the land of condo construction. First, of course, the officially sanctioned walk-through with the construction manager; I’d expected all to be pretty much as I’d left it three days before,... 2004-10-17T17:44:53Z https://kfitz.info/moore-and-moore-odd/ The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin, yesterday published a lovely editorial about the role of Michael Moore in contemporary political discourse. And I’m thrilled... 2004-10-16T13:34:11Z https://kfitz.info/kerry-didnt-gay-bait/ The key argument is in the subtitle: He used Mary Cheney to shame Bush for gay-baiting. On Slate, by Timothy Noah. (Via 2004-10-16T13:07:40Z https://kfitz.info/how-big/ In the event you’re the last person on the planet who hasn’t seen this clip (and don’t worry — I’m quite sure I was second-to-last), go watch this: Jon Stewart on Crossfire.... 2004-10-15T17:03:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-killers-hot-fuss/ Worth checking out if you haven’t yet. Not un-Strokes-like. 2004-10-13T12:44:10Z https://kfitz.info/a-call-to-action/ So I was poking around a bit on the FCC website today, trying to come up with some more information about their regulation of calls to action. The closest I was able to come up with was the 1986 2004-10-12T20:24:11Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-radio/ One of my students had been asking me for a few weeks if I’d appear on his Monday-night call-in show at the college’s radio station, and I have to admit that I was dragging my feet a bit about the whole thing, partly because of the hour (he... 2004-10-11T14:54:21Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-7-inside-edition/ It was a big weekend for condo picture-taking. R. and I wandered over Sunday morning after breakfast, camera at the ready, and found that the building next to ours has not only been fully stuccoed but is also mostly painted. Our building’s... 2004-10-11T00:39:01Z https://kfitz.info/feeling-wretched/ Reading Fanon for tomorrow’s class, and finding it all a bit alarmingly familiar, this year:

The... 2004-10-09T14:27:53Z https://kfitz.info/jacques-derrida-1930-2004/ Word comes this morning of the death of Jacques Derrida, and the summing-up-the-career obituaries are coming fast and furious. Says the BBC:

Fellow academics have... 2004-10-06T00:07:39Z https://kfitz.info/did-dick-cheney-break-the-law-on-911/ Salon’s War Room [yeah, yeah; subscription or ad-viewing required] reports this evening on a story set to appear in the... 2004-10-05T12:10:50Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-6-the-tuesday-morning-edition/ Ah, at last: the stars have aligned, the cables are plugged in, and my schedule has a free moment in it, allowing for a brief return to the subject of my obsession, real estate.
To begin, I’ll give you a few quick shots of the building as... 2004-10-01T14:47:29Z https://kfitz.info/i-survived/ Did you?
The entire experience was excruciating. I bit my nails, pulled my hair, screamed at the screen, covered my face with my hands. Afterward, I was drained, but it still took hours to get my blood pressure back down to... 2004-09-28T12:09:22Z https://kfitz.info/updating-autoupdate/ From the logic of Redmond:

This update fixes an error in the AutoUpdate download progress bar, which did not accurately display the progress... 2004-09-27T16:07:57Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-5/ So now that I’m back in the land of connectivity —
— well, I have to qualify that. Not long ago, we moved office, and when we arrived in our newly-refurbished, fabulously modern and yet not characterless... 2004-09-26T22:04:06Z https://kfitz.info/you-know-what-would-be-cool/ If someone would write a script that would work with… well, let’s say, just hypothetically, a software package like ExpressionEngine, that would allow an author to take full advantage of... 2004-09-25T13:37:14Z https://kfitz.info/life-and-death-in-the-electronic-age/ [UPDATE, 06.15.07: Dude, where’s my content? There was a post here about some guy in Japan, I think, who’d been dead for something like eighteen months before anyone found out, because he had auto-bill-paying set up, along with other such... 2004-09-22T17:13:25Z https://kfitz.info/at-conferences-end/ Above is the loveliest conference room I spent any time in during my four days on the University of Sussex campus. It is also the scene of the previously mentioned conference... 2004-09-21T06:44:53Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-52-not-enough-less-grouchy-to-really-be-posting/ I wish I could say things were on an upswing. Here’s the good news: the panels I attended yesterday were, by and large, quite good; the two keynotes thus far (Ted Nelson and Sara Kiesler) were worthwhile; the shower had hot water this morning at 6... 2004-09-20T04:39:53Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-4-the-grouchy-one-without-pictures/ This has not been the greatest morning in the history of conference attendance. I woke up late today, had to rush through my shower–which turns out to have been a blessing in disguise, like really really in disguise, as I ran out of hot... 2004-09-19T09:24:25Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-51/ Friday was travel day — SuperShuttle at 9.55 am; flight out of Ontario at 12.40 pm (yes, SuperShuttle requires the better part of three hours to get you 15 miles); arrival in Houston at 5.49 pm, followed by traditional GHWBIA sprint to 6.40 flight... 2004-09-17T12:24:04Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-50/ Off to Sussex. More from there, as connectivity allows. 2004-09-13T20:45:50Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-3-only-two-weeks-and-one-day-late/ You’d think I’d forgotten about this lovely feature, the way I’ve been not posting about the imminent condo. But two things serve to remind me to post something real-estate oriented today: first, my new digital camera arrived today. Thanks for all... 2004-09-08T14:06:28Z https://kfitz.info/by-the-numbers/ There’s an interesting analysis out from the Wall Street Journal showing the potential effects of the results from the... 2004-09-07T22:26:01Z https://kfitz.info/what-ive-been-doing/ — Chairing the Media Studies program, for the first time, which involves a significant increase in student advising and general administrative paperwork.
— Beginning the ten-year self-study that Media Studies must this year conduct. I... 2004-08-31T19:46:51Z https://kfitz.info/pentagon/ If I were a conspiracy theorist, I’d be completely flipped out by this.
Guess it’s a good thing I’m not.
[Courtesy of my old pal Marc.] 2004-08-30T19:24:42Z https://kfitz.info/the-manifesto-of-the-prka/ Via Unfogged, George Saunders’s manifesto of the PRKA, or the People Reluctant to Kill for an... 2004-08-30T01:05:12Z https://kfitz.info/to-the-wonderful-folks-whove-blogrolled-me/ Friends:
For the last three months, I’ve manually pinged blogrolling.com every time I’ve updated, so that the old URL ( 2004-08-29T20:20:40Z https://kfitz.info/ready-at-last/ Over the last several days, I’ve been madly building this semester’s course websites, and remembering, once again, why I adore Liz Lawley.
I’ve branched... 2004-08-27T00:13:12Z https://kfitz.info/write-your-own-bush-acceptance-speech/ My good pals at Salon are holding a Be Bush’s Speechwriter contest, in which one can win a year of Salon Premium (plus other valuable prizes!) for writing the best 500-word acceptance... 2004-08-24T13:28:26Z https://kfitz.info/goodbye-summer/ I’m sitting in an airport lounge, using the stupidly expensive wifi to post this entry, not least because it’s distracting me from the fact(s) that:

I’m still a year older today, but the celebratory part is... 2004-08-23T08:14:23Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging-vol-2/ Of course, the builders of my new condo complex poured most of their attention for the first several months of construction into the buildings that house the models; of the loft-style buildings, two are complete. My building constituted the sixth... 2004-08-21T09:12:27Z https://kfitz.info/the-view-from-here/ I left SoCal on Thursday, headed to DC for a little birthday-related celebration activity. Between the day of flying (in which one gets up at what R. refers to as zero-dark-thirty, gets on a plane, deplanes and runs across an airport to one’s... 2004-08-21T09:10:17Z https://kfitz.info/a-further-note/ This one’s particularly aimed at all you Mac geeks out there: My Powerbook (running 10.3.5) has suddenly started assigning bizarre icons to new documents. For instance: if I download a JPG, the PB assigns it an iPod icon. I downloaded a new copy... 2004-08-18T18:36:52Z https://kfitz.info/what-counts/ There has been a series of conversations of late, both here and elsewhere, about the nature of academic work, whether sparked by anxieties about the impending end of the summer, or by the perception that we in the... 2004-08-17T10:28:44Z https://kfitz.info/photoblogging-the-old-fashioned-way/ So here’s the part where I whine a bit about the process of building yesterday’s entry. I shall do this by delineating for you the steps involved in creating your own photoblog, the old-fashioned way:

Take random pictures of your... 2004-08-16T14:33:54Z https://kfitz.info/monday-morning-condo-blogging/ Jake wrote me a while back to suggest that my condo-in-process might provide a useful opportunity for some photoblogging. Of course, as I’ll no doubt... 2004-08-15T22:48:15Z https://kfitz.info/i-got-good-news-and-i-got-bad-news/ The good news: I found out this evening that I’ve got the Olympics in high-definition.
The bad news? I’ve got the Olympics. In high-definition. 24 hours... 2004-08-14T12:40:35Z https://kfitz.info/therell-be-a-load-of-compromisin-on-the-road-to-my-horizon/ I cannot explain it.
Not only that, I cannot imagine a reasonable explanation.
But for the last twenty-four hours, I have been plagued by an endless loop of Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy.”
Ordinarily, I can trace such an... 2004-08-13T13:59:37Z https://kfitz.info/the-end-of-an-era/ Julia Child, the woman who single-handedly saved American cuisine, died yesterday at age 91.
I suddenly need to go home,... 2004-08-12T12:08:47Z https://kfitz.info/program-notes/ Updates to the blogroll, at left; probably no further updates today, as I attempt to rectify the not-working situation noted yesterday. The fall looms.
More soon. 2004-08-11T12:19:15Z https://kfitz.info/on-not-working/ There’s been a repeated refrain in my posts this summer: not-working, something I’ve been doing a lot of for the last two and a half... 2004-08-10T10:16:03Z https://kfitz.info/lather-rinse-repeat/ Spent most of the day yesterday with R., as he negotiated the semi-treacherous waters of new-car purchasing. The genius part of his purchase was that the car isn’t new, per se; it’s a 2003, but it’s only got 4000 miles on it, having spent... 2004-08-09T13:23:42Z https://kfitz.info/the-new-switch-campaign/ Courtesy of our friends at MoveOn.Org comes an updated version of Apple’s Switch campaign: a series of ads directed and... 2004-08-08T16:59:21Z https://kfitz.info/why-i-love-technology/ Because now, instead of having to set up an escape route with a friend, it can be automated (Salon.com; subscription or ad-viewing... 2004-08-03T14:00:33Z https://kfitz.info/on-returning-though-not-quite/ So aside from the connectivity issues, Hawaii was fantastic. But it got me out of the habit of writing, sad to say, and left me hopelessly behind on all my summer projects. Which, now that I’m back in SoCal, I’m madly attempting to catch up on. So... 2004-07-22T19:16:33Z https://kfitz.info/just-a-word-or-two-before-i-go/ I’ve got about ten minutes of wi-fi left on yesterday’s nickel, so just a quick note about the book reviews I alluded to yesterday. I’ll be dropping them over there on the right once they’re ready; that sidebar is its own separate blog, one of the... 2004-07-21T20:57:43Z https://kfitz.info/just-another-day-in-paradise/ Internet access here in Wailea sucks. Which is the only bad thing I have to say about the place.
These two factors together should serve as explanation for my silence. That, and if you imagine a really huge rum-based drink, you’ll start to... 2004-07-11T11:53:38Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-the-origin/ Planned Obsolescence was born a bit over two years ago on the island of Oahu. As has been true for many others, a journey back to the origin is inevitable. Like a salmon swimming upstream... 2004-07-09T16:10:29Z https://kfitz.info/dude-im-almost-famous/ So I just got my copy of the American Literary Scholarship 2002 in the mail, and for the first time ever, I’m mentioned in it.
Well, sorta.
In Jerome Klinkowitz’s review article... 2004-07-07T12:54:30Z https://kfitz.info/ah-the-irony/ I received in yesterday’s mail a survey asking me to rate my recent experience with the Sony Service Center. I am forwarding, along with said survey, a hard copy of this.
They asked. I answered. 2004-07-06T17:33:48Z https://kfitz.info/summer-plans-revised/ Things I have not been doing this summer, that I still hold some hope of getting to soon:
1. Finishing the three half-written articles that really ought to have been done a long time ago.
2. Figuring out how those three articles... 2004-07-05T13:45:36Z https://kfitz.info/fifth-of-july/ Something about the day after the fourth-of-July holiday makes me start contemplating musical renditions of Americanness. It’s not just the Sousa being piped into my local Walgreens as I’m trying to get my prescriptions refilled. It’s not just the... 2004-07-02T16:43:13Z https://kfitz.info/in-which-i-lose-my-cool-and-succumb-to-a-fit-of-pique/ Ogged finds the country we live in mighty funny indeed, but I’ve just got to say: a world in which one person can slap together a tell-all blog documenting her way... 2004-07-01T15:20:01Z https://kfitz.info/david-foster-wallace-oblivion/ As today’s main entry might suggest, I’ve been reading Oblivion of late. I’m a little over halfway through, and I absolutely love it. Screw Walter Kirn; he’s wrong. Period. 2004-07-01T14:54:00Z https://kfitz.info/matt-taibbi-new-york-press/ Via Unfogged, Mike Matt Taibbi’s takedown of Christopher Hitchens and his fellow... 2004-07-01T13:10:21Z https://kfitz.info/oblivion/ All day yesterday, the guy down the hall was the cover story on Salon (subscription or ad-viewing required). Which would have been weirder than it was, except that he’s... 2004-06-30T16:04:00Z https://kfitz.info/an-open-letter-to-all-those-blogging-folks-i-love-to-read/ George recently issued a plea for bloggers to make full-text RSS feeds of their sites available, such that folks who, like him, are hooked on Bloglines and other newsreaders can... 2004-06-29T15:14:25Z https://kfitz.info/fahrenheit-911/ So, being the registered lefty and the media scholar that I am (though which was more dominant at this precise moment is open to some debate), I went out this weekend to see Michael Moore’s newest, 2004-06-28T17:11:51Z https://kfitz.info/what-goes-around-comes-around-and-around/ Ah, one of those moments at which I know that my life has meaning, because all my usually scattered interests seem to be connected by what one of my trippier college pals insisted on referring to as “tendrils”: In today’s New York Newsday, 2004-06-26T17:14:03Z https://kfitz.info/gmail-anyone/ I’ve been too busy hyperventilating over the financial machinations that have taken over my life of late to post this in anything like a timely fashion, but it turns out that I’ve got 6 Gmail invites to distribute. If you want one, comment below... 2004-06-23T13:49:09Z https://kfitz.info/where-ive-been/ It’s been an eventful couple of weeks around here; I’ve gotten settled into my new office, I’ve been hard at work on projects both new and old, and, in my spare time, I’ve begun the process of buying a condo. 2004-06-17T13:16:01Z https://kfitz.info/six-feet-under/ Heavy sigh. I’d missed the last episode of Season 3 when it first aired, so I caught that one for the first time Sunday before last. Moving right from that episode into the first episode of Season 4 was pretty dramatic; as opposed to our pals at... 2004-06-17T11:21:48Z https://kfitz.info/why-im-pretty-glad-im-not-any-longer-in-dixie/ Less because stuff like this happens, than because some day it might work: via XX, a plan to 2004-06-16T16:06:57Z https://kfitz.info/looking-up/ Things are looking pretty good, from where I sit. I’ve settled into my new office, which is small by the standards of our building, but huge by any reasonable standard, and which has both north- and west-facing windows (giving lots of sunshine and... 2004-06-14T13:55:22Z https://kfitz.info/moving-office/ We’re moving out of our temporary digs today, at long last. (For temporary office space, where we were was more than adequate, but:

We were in the basement, and thus had no windows at all.

The office suite had an... 2004-06-12T20:53:10Z https://kfitz.info/daily-reason-to-dispatch-bush/ Undoubtedly, you’ve been there; you’ve done that. But who couldn’t use a reminder: McSweeney’s Daily Reason to Dispatch Bush is cumulative, growing by the day.
Go there again. Do that one... 2004-06-11T13:27:20Z https://kfitz.info/the-myth-of-the-persecuted-campus-conservative/ Michael Bérubé has published a brilliant reconsideration of an early run-in he had with Dinesh D’Souza, on the occasion of D’Souza’s being hired as 2004-06-10T16:22:40Z https://kfitz.info/proverbs-for-postmodern-paranoids-part-1/ If you think they might be hiding something from you, it’s entirely possible that they are.
For those unfamiliar with the robots.txt function, this file keeps all web-robots, such as those... 2004-06-09T12:18:41Z https://kfitz.info/what-now/ There’s been a mighty lot of silence on my end here, and though I wish I could ascribe it to being terribly, terribly busy, that is simply not the case. Continuing issues with the manuscript have left me feeling... 2004-06-08T14:34:14Z https://kfitz.info/technolust/ I want one of these… 2004-06-05T19:33:01Z https://kfitz.info/pedro-the-lion-achilles-heel/ Just snagged this yesterday off eMusic. Turns out they played in Pomona last night. Of course, I’m in San Diego this weekend, so that does me no good. And they’re here in SD tonight, but I’m booked. It’s a shame: the album’s worth a listen, and... 2004-06-05T18:53:33Z https://kfitz.info/today-in-history/ Today: Ronald Reagan dies at the age of 93, Smarty Jones just misses winning the Triple Crown by a... 2004-06-03T11:27:31Z https://kfitz.info/pecked-to-death/ Returning to a topic from way back: Dale Peck, who wields the book review like a truncheon, has published a collection of his articles, entitled, appropriately, 2004-05-31T13:18:58Z https://kfitz.info/why-so-long-as-i-live-neither-i-nor-any-of-mine-will-ever-purchase-a-sony-product-again/ [None of what follows is made up. None of it is even exaggerated for effect.
I do hope that you’ll take note of this and, if you feel so inclined, reproduce this elsewhere. I’d be thrilled if this spread memetically around this here... 2004-05-30T13:52:00Z https://kfitz.info/naming-the-future/ Well, the site renovations seem pretty much in hand — things are basically working (though you should let me know if you find something that isn’t), and the redirects and 404s are doing their respective jobs.
So, given that, like 2004-05-28T19:30:28Z https://kfitz.info/stage-2-complete/ Whew again. Stage 2 of the migration is now complete. You’re looking at the new (and, one hopes, improved) Planned Obsolescence. Here’s what’s happened since the last update:

Installed 2004-05-27T14:19:00Z https://kfitz.info/the-sopranos/ I have not yet recovered from the most recent episode (“Long Term Parking”). I’m astonished by the extent to which Chase et al have radically deromanticized the family (as well as the “family”) this season. 2004-05-27T14:18:00Z https://kfitz.info/blonde-redhead-misery-is-a-butterfly/ I’ve only gotten a chance to listen to this a couple of times, but I adore it already. 2004-05-27T00:05:00Z https://kfitz.info/jeffrey-eugenides-middlesex/ In process.
[UPDATE, 7.1.04: I finally did finish this a couple of weeks back, and thoroughly loved it. It’s got all the things I love in a novel: a deeply personal story, a substantive intersection with a larger cultural and social... 2004-05-24T20:21:18Z https://kfitz.info/stage-1-complete/ Whew. Stage 1 of the migration is at last complete (interrupted over the weekend by a trip to Vegas, about which more later). For the interested, here’s how it went:

Copied all relevant files as-was from the old host to the... 2004-05-20T13:33:57Z https://kfitz.info/help/ Am in mid-migration. Desperately need a copy of mt.cfg in order to reconfigure mt for new hosting environment.
This would happen this week, after 6A removes MT 2.661 from their site…
Any help would be much... 2004-05-16T01:54:00Z https://kfitz.info/update-2/ Thanks to all who have responded to my various technological pleas over the last few days. My hosting provider’s waning is producing massive unreliability — my site’s been down more than it’s been up over the last week — and so I’ve done the... 2004-05-15T17:41:32Z https://kfitz.info/harrumph/ So everybody’s talking about the 2004-05-15T00:15:01Z https://kfitz.info/richard-powers-gain/ A second reading. I still insist that this book is underrated, maligned by critics who love the technology stuff but can’t deal with the personal. 2004-05-14T13:06:24Z https://kfitz.info/take-two-2/ The irony is of course that within moments of my having posted yesterday’s entry, my hosting provider’s service went down, so no one could get to the message in which I was asking for help with finding a new hosting provider. Coincidence? I think... 2004-05-13T13:20:38Z https://kfitz.info/request-for-hosting-recommendations/ Just a quick one, as I’m in the midst of enormous piles of grading that I really want done by the end of the day tomorrow: I’ve just gotten an email message from my hosting provider saying that they’re shutting down as early as two weeks from now.... 2004-05-03T17:58:04Z https://kfitz.info/marriage-its-whats-for-dinner/ *Courtesy of my genius pal, Shasta, over at majorweather:

HOUSE BILL NO. 751
Offered January 14, 2004
Prefiled January 14, 2004
A BILL to amend the Code of... 2004-04-29T16:13:27Z https://kfitz.info/oy/ A listserv I frequent has, on and off, had a bit of conversation about the plight of adjuncts in the academy, and one listmember this morning posted a link here, mentioning my recent post on the Chronicle article... 2004-04-27T12:59:02Z https://kfitz.info/visibility-of-a-sort/ This entry comes with an Irony Alert, though it’s an irony more in the Alanis Morissette sense, rather than irony in the classical sense.
The Chronicle... 2004-04-27T00:16:01Z https://kfitz.info/neal-stephenson-cryptonomicon/ A third reading, for class, but sadly partial; too much grading prevented me from finishing. 2004-04-26T15:52:01Z https://kfitz.info/back-at-it/ I’m upright, today, and out from under quarantine. Both of these things feel like victories.
With a week and a half remaining in the semester, one must take one’s victories where one can.
Thanks, all, for the good wishes. More... 2004-04-23T19:41:46Z https://kfitz.info/is-this-what-it-feels-like-to-be-a-windows-user/ So, that incipient case of the “chicken pox”?
Is not the chicken pox at all.
It is now, according to my doctor, a “virus of unknown origin.” Something almost certainly infectious, but untraceable without major lab analyses, which... 2004-04-22T17:01:54Z https://kfitz.info/reclaiming-patriotism/ In far too many ways, for too many election cycles now, the political right has had a lock on several key campaign buzzwords, despite their repeated violations of everything that I’ve understood those concepts to mean. Like “family values,” which... 2004-04-22T00:12:15Z https://kfitz.info/too-angry-not-to-comment/ Well, the Bush campaign has finally dug up somebody to call John Kerry’s military record into question. Apparently, as Scott notes, they’re now claiming that Kerry may not... 2004-04-21T23:16:13Z https://kfitz.info/marcus/ A quick story from the France trip that I’ve been looking forward to telling, but hadn’t quite found the right moment for:
I took the TGV back up from Tours to Paris, as it turned out, with the organizer of the conference I’d just attended,... 2004-04-21T22:37:38Z https://kfitz.info/booksense/ On George’s recommendation, I’m attempting to move my book links from Amazon to BookSense, which links... 2004-04-20T20:36:40Z https://kfitz.info/like-ghirardelli-or-what/ We’re discussing Cryptonomicon right now in the Big Novel class, 2004-04-20T12:47:12Z https://kfitz.info/for-liz/ And courtesy of Marcus: the famous sofa-baignoire: 2004-04-20T00:45:18Z https://kfitz.info/home-again-2/ Yes, I returned to Claremont eight days ago, after a fabulous trip through Paris and Tours. Yes, I’ve been meaning to post every day since I got back, but have been massively unable to do so, due to one crisis and another.
And yet, here I... 2004-04-11T03:28:38Z https://kfitz.info/headed-home-2/ Returned to Paris last night, and will head toward the airport shortly for the long trek home. I’ll post more either from Houston or from home. It’s been a great trip, of course, and there are more stories to tell, but I’m ready to get back into... 2004-04-09T04:24:12Z https://kfitz.info/in-tours/ What of Wednesday I spent in Paris was mostly spent in the post-travel fog I always find myself in; once I got to Marcus’s apartment, I showered, and then he and I headed out toward the gallery where he was that evening having a... 2004-04-08T09:34:31Z https://kfitz.info/checking-in/ [The following was written on the Powerbook in Paris at 6 am today, and is being transcribed in an internet cafe in Tours now. I’m not sure how much posting I’ll actually wind up doing from here; the cafe is fine, and darned conveniently located,... 2004-04-06T18:59:03Z https://kfitz.info/up-in-the-air/ [What follows was written at 30,000 feet. I’m no longer there, but firmly on the ground, for another fifteen minutes or so…]
I should have known right from the start that this was going to be a particularly surreal trip. I went online the... 2004-04-05T14:29:00Z https://kfitz.info/im-not-dead-yet-2/ But I am drowning.
Jake writes to ask where the heck I’ve been, which is a really, really good question.
Alas, I’ve been more or less right here, grading papers for class,... 2004-03-24T01:29:35Z https://kfitz.info/saying-goodbye/ Invisible Adjunct is calling it quits, both leaving the academy and shutting down the blog. Having given herself a deadline for finding full-time employment, and having been failed... 2004-03-23T13:56:23Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-campus-center/ Gee, it’s nice to be in the news for something other than hate crimes or hoaxes thereof. This week’s Chronicle of Higher Education [subscription required] has a lovely... 2004-03-22T12:46:42Z https://kfitz.info/confessions-of-a-semi-successful-author/ Today, on Salon [subscription or ad-viewing required], the travails of the mid-list author in contemporary publishing:

If you don’t want to hear... 2004-03-19T14:23:50Z https://kfitz.info/can-i-take-a-mulligan-on-this-semester/ Or perhaps it would be best just to cut our losses, hold our collective breath, and just plunge on through.
Really, I’ve never been one to look longingly backward in time. I wouldn’t go back to my childhood, I’m fond of saying, not even for... 2004-03-17T22:41:16Z https://kfitz.info/i-honestly-dont-know-what-to-say/ The Claremont Police and the FBI have released a statement saying that they have concluded their investigation into last week’s apparent hate crime, and in so doing have announced that the victim is now the primary... 2004-03-16T17:21:10Z https://kfitz.info/why-so-he-can-begin-planning-the-invasions/ From the New York Times:

WASHINGTON, March 16 — The White House continued... 2004-03-12T17:12:13Z https://kfitz.info/press-release/ HATE CRIME INCIDENT ON MARCH 9TH, 2004
Detectives from the Claremont Police Department and Agents from the FBI are continuing to follow-up on many leads regarding the hate crime incident that occurred on 3-9-04 at the Claremont Colleges. As... 2004-03-12T15:15:09Z https://kfitz.info/and-not-a-moment-too-soon/ It’s spring break here. I’ve got a conference paper to write, and some sleep to catch up on. Things may be quiet around these parts this week, but rest assured that there is much thought going on beneath the surface. As Ralph Ellison suggests,... 2004-03-11T15:02:39Z https://kfitz.info/what-i-would-have-said/ Yesterday, Pomona College held a teach-in on Marston Quad, a usually-deserted lawn in the center of campus. Faculty from across the curriculum had been invited to speak, and after their brief talks, the mike was opened to anyone else who had... 2004-03-11T01:48:20Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-news/ Coverage of events here from the Los Angeles Times, the New... 2004-03-10T14:10:29Z https://kfitz.info/more-and-worse/ Last night, sometime around 9.30, there was a knock at my door. I live in a faculty residence on campus, so I knew that this was going to be a student, but I also knew immediately that something was wrong, because my students never just... 2004-03-09T19:27:09Z https://kfitz.info/today-i-am-not-amused/ My satellite TV provider has dropped a slew of channels from its offerings overnight, due to a contract... 2004-03-08T15:13:23Z https://kfitz.info/just-for-fun/ Because today, I am Easily Amused: The Man Project. 2004-03-06T17:01:00Z https://kfitz.info/mediacommons/ I’m taking a poll, of all two of you who are reading these days. What do you think of the name MediaCommons for an online scholarly publishing imprint, focused (for the moment, at least) on... 2004-03-05T15:29:19Z https://kfitz.info/scms-day-2/ My obligatory conference day-of-hooky has come a little earlier than usual; under ordinary circumstances, I usually burn out on panels on the third day and zip off to do some shopping or sightseeing or other non-session related activity. Here,... 2004-03-05T00:22:58Z https://kfitz.info/the-scariest-plenary-ever/ What follow are my notes from this afternoon’s plenary address by Mark Crispin Miller. Miller’s title, as listed in the program, was “Mediating Tomorrow’s History: Live Coverage and Documentary in the Digital Era,” but in fact his talk had nothing... 2004-03-04T23:11:00Z https://kfitz.info/scms-day-1/ What follows are my notes from the first session I attended today. They’re a little sketchy and a little incomplete (I got there about 10 minutes late), but they’ll at least remind me of what I heard.
Session 1, Thursday, March 4, 12.00... 2004-03-02T19:36:26Z https://kfitz.info/scms-ward-bound/ Just as things in Claremont begin to slow a bit, my travel schedule picks up. I’m headed to Atlanta tomorrow morning, to attend SCMS. I’ll be speaking on a panel put together by... 2004-02-27T01:02:46Z https://kfitz.info/whats-been-going-on/ It’s been some time since I’ve been able to update, as the month of February just hasn’t been a great one around these parts. There was the madness of job candidate season, though the candidates... 2004-02-21T20:26:57Z https://kfitz.info/who-says-people-suck/ A couple of guys in Minneapolis may have had one of the finest ideas of all time:

Today a coworker of mine had a thought to send flowers to a random... 2004-02-14T17:02:53Z https://kfitz.info/oh-my-god/ I’ve just gotten the scariest Google referral ever. My skin is positively crawling.
To my good... 2004-02-14T14:34:45Z https://kfitz.info/its-the-end-of-the-buffyverse-as-we-know-it/ Ack. After years of devoted Buffy fandom, it took months for me to recover from the show’s semi-untimely (though extraordinarily well-done) end.
Now, after finally... 2004-02-12T13:58:00Z https://kfitz.info/simple-math-or-a-word-problem/ ((Many job candidates + very large classes) * a series of committee crises) + hours of dealing with comment spam = zero ability to post actual new thoughts this week.
Thinking will return soon. (I hope.) 2004-02-10T13:38:17Z https://kfitz.info/oh-thats-just-charming/ Sometime last night I got slammed with comment spam — more than 250 comments before I was able to stem the tide — all of which were ostensibly advertising a series of blogs. Here’s the cute thing, though: many of them were positively... 2004-02-07T13:33:54Z https://kfitz.info/weve-been-misread/ There’s a certain irony hanging over Christopher Dreher’s followup [Salon.com; subscription or ad-viewing required] on the 2004-02-06T13:32:38Z https://kfitz.info/random-links/ Via Jake: a nice slice of pi.
Via 2004-02-04T16:01:01Z https://kfitz.info/the-new-new-york-times-book-review/ Following up on the recent mini-rant on the decline and fall of the New York Times Book Review: Yankee Pot Roast has uncovered the... 2004-02-03T14:32:27Z https://kfitz.info/perhaps-the-dumbest-teaching-question-ever/ Here’s something I probably ought to have thought of before the semester started, perhaps even before planning on teaching a class like The Big Novel: It’s really, really hard to get students... 2004-02-02T13:42:24Z https://kfitz.info/oh-sure-it-was-super/ Everybody’s talking about the Super Bowl, whether they watched it or not. It’s the big game, the final conflict, the 2004-02-02T10:12:06Z https://kfitz.info/productivity-in-sharp-decline/ Why, oh why, did I ever follow that link? 2004-01-30T12:45:19Z https://kfitz.info/uhhhh/ You know that feeling, where you’re lying in bed with a head stuffed full of nastiness it doesn’t do to describe, doped-up on NyQuil and yet unable to sleep, and the thoughts are flickering through your simultaneously overly-insulated and jangly... 2004-01-28T12:30:55Z https://kfitz.info/cats-and-rats-and-elephants/ So this morning, I’m flipping through a copy of the New Yorker from several weeks back, and I stumble upon this 2004-01-27T17:24:45Z https://kfitz.info/how-it-turned-out/ [Part 3 in a series. Read Part 1 and Part 2.]
My father remarried soon after the divorce, married the woman he’d left my mother for (this piece of information my mother does... 2004-01-26T12:38:03Z https://kfitz.info/palimpsest/ Announcing the launch of Palimpsest, a group-authored weblog devoted to open-source teaching resources. Thanks to George for getting it off the... 2004-01-24T17:18:16Z https://kfitz.info/brightly-colored-food/ I just discovered, through roundabout linkage, the blog of a former student of mine, now in grad school studying interaction design. It’s always nice stumbling across familiar folks doing new... 2004-01-23T16:06:05Z https://kfitz.info/the-book-may-not-be-dead/ …but it’s possible that the book review is.
Or at least that the serious book-review publication is. Witness this demoralizing development at the 2004-01-23T14:26:19Z https://kfitz.info/on-publishing-and-the-public/ To continue yesterday’s thoughts: The exchange between Matt and Rory in the comments of my last post leads me to ponder the viability of a genuinely open-source model for the exchange of... 2004-01-22T13:17:32Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-future-of-academic-publishing/ Dorothea Salo and Timothy Burke have both turned their sights on the state of academic... 2004-01-21T14:12:00Z https://kfitz.info/from-day-one/ A new semester. One old class, and two new ones. (One overload.) Three new manila folders. One new courseware package. And I’m good to go.
The courses, if... 2004-01-20T13:49:20Z https://kfitz.info/national-book-critics-circle-nominations/ Ah, having made our way through the madness of the top-ten lists, award season is upon us. The Bloggies are of course... 2004-01-20T02:14:22Z https://kfitz.info/open-foot-insert-mouth/ I was going to leave this in the comments of my last post, but found myself doing so much fulminating until it seemed worth turning this into a whole nother entry.
So the ugly story: I... 2004-01-19T17:20:03Z https://kfitz.info/once-again-ignored-by-the-academy/ The nominations for the 2004 Bloggies are out.
Here’s where I invoke Don DeLillo and Jonathan Franzen on the ways that an artist is cheapened by the presence of an audience.
Or... 2004-01-16T13:42:32Z https://kfitz.info/reason-number-one/ Why I’m glad I moved to California. If it’s a choice between this:

and this:
(missing image of whatever was happening in... 2004-01-14T17:27:41Z https://kfitz.info/a-terrible-idea/ George has had a no-good, very bad idea, in which I absolutely do not want to participate. Don’t read his entry.
Oh, and don’t look 2004-01-13T17:16:01Z https://kfitz.info/fitzpatricks-first-law/ John Brockman, president of Edge Foundation, has posed his annual question to his collection... 2004-01-12T15:48:30Z https://kfitz.info/difficulty-professionalism-and-literary-studies/ Last month’s MLA-bashing controversy, which surfaced here, at Invisible Adjunct, and at 2004-01-12T13:43:12Z https://kfitz.info/sharing-teaching-resources/ I’ve been following with great interest a conversation developing over at George’s place on the possibility of creating an open-source collection of resources for teaching literature.... 2004-01-08T16:32:11Z https://kfitz.info/nineteen-eighty-four/ The appearance of my old pal Trent in the comments below reminds me: I’m fast approaching an altogether alarming milestone — the 20-year high school reunion.
Which means that I’ve lived (in my case,... 2004-01-06T19:13:29Z https://kfitz.info/two-days-later/ I’m still obsessing about the LSU-Oklahoma game, reading everything I can get my hands (or my mouse) on, and generally relishing the little glow that comes with seeing your — well, I’m not going to go so far as to call it an “alma mater,” as that... 2004-01-05T12:04:53Z https://kfitz.info/i-am-alarmed-to-no-end/ …by the fact that this very site, your own Planned Obsolescence, comes in number 2 in the Google Japan rankings for “onanism... 2004-01-05T01:13:00Z https://kfitz.info/final-score-lsu-21-ou-14/ It was an ugly, ugly fourth quarter. And a particularly ugly close. (Really, even at the end of this brain-scrambling game, and after more beer than I might ought to have drunk, even I can do the math: 1.47 to go, and 3 downs to burn, and a... 2004-01-05T00:55:00Z https://kfitz.info/246-to-play/ Incomplete.
Where’s my defibrillator? 2004-01-05T00:47:01Z https://kfitz.info/341-to-play/ And I’m sad to say, it’s anybody’s game. This should have been over by now, but LSU has a long history of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, so I should not be surprised. 2004-01-05T00:32:00Z https://kfitz.info/now-thats-the-lsu-i-remember/ Determined to give me an early coronary. That’s my Tigers.
9.30-ish to go in the game. We’ll see if I survive. 2004-01-05T00:19:00Z https://kfitz.info/lsu-21-ou-14/ 11.01 to go in the game. It ain’t over.
(Cats? What cats?) 2004-01-04T23:57:13Z https://kfitz.info/wtf/ Walk me through it, okay? It’s fourth and goal, pushed somewhere back of the 5. So LSU attempts a field goal, and makes it. But there are two flags against the offense (one during the play, and one after), so they get pushed back, what,... 2004-01-04T23:43:00Z https://kfitz.info/during-the-commercial-break/ Okay, what’s with Snoop and the “who stole the trophy” Ultimate Bling thing? I’ll admit, he looked pretty good in an LSU uniform (though the semiotics of LSU=hair down/OU=cornrows strike me as ripe for interpretation). But… but… what was that all... 2004-01-04T23:33:01Z https://kfitz.info/lsu-21-ou-7/ Holy crap. And that is all I have to say. (Though it took me a while to tear myself away from the set in order to say it.) 2004-01-04T23:08:00Z https://kfitz.info/halftime/ Okay, heart. Slow down.
Now, a bit of assessment: it’s absolutely a defensive game, so far, with the exception of that last touchdown drive by LSU, which was a nice glimpse of what their offense can do, when they get out of their own... 2004-01-04T22:55:00Z https://kfitz.info/lsu-14-ou-7/ 4.21 to go in the half. Justin Vincent is my new hero. (Sorry, Vernel.) 2004-01-04T22:43:01Z https://kfitz.info/lsu-7-ou-7/ Okay. Okay. Okay. Things have quieted down somewhat downstairs. The cats have emerged from hiding.
7.31 to go in the half. It’s going to be a long night. 2004-01-04T22:35:00Z https://kfitz.info/convergence-please/ Why, oh why, did I decide that it was a good idea to put my computer in a different room from my television set?
Then again, if it weren’t for the running back and forth, would I find myself frantically posting like this every time I got... 2004-01-04T22:22:01Z https://kfitz.info/huh-2/ Musberger: “And now, in a battle of field position, Oklahoma has a great opportunity.”
Isn’t football by definition a battle of field position?
This is only topped by the color commentator I once heard during a college... 2004-01-04T21:53:01Z https://kfitz.info/lsu-7-ou-0/ 9.00 to go in the first, and I have officially scared my cats half to death. “She doesn’t usually scream at the picture-box,” they shrieked before running off to hide upstairs. 2004-01-04T21:33:01Z https://kfitz.info/g-e-a-u-x/ Less than two minutes in and already I’m on the verge of a heart attack.
Just thought I’d share. 2004-01-02T18:38:39Z https://kfitz.info/the-weather-project/ All of a sudden, everybody’s reminding 2004-01-02T13:39:00Z https://kfitz.info/january/ Welcome to 2004. The year started while I was asleep, as I predicted; after a minor DVD-marathon (yeah, yeah, yeah; I’ve been a Buffy-fan for years, but... 2003-12-31T21:26:56Z https://kfitz.info/new-years-eve/ I’ve returned from the MLA adventure, and the Louisiana adventure before that, and the London adventure before that. I’m not, as Liz is, the kind of person... 2003-12-30T13:16:48Z https://kfitz.info/the-last-days-of-blogging/ Mabel, pack up the kids. We’re outta here.
Okay, not really. But this was nonetheless my first reaction when I picked up the USA Today left on my hotel room doorstep this morning.
Right on the... 2003-12-23T11:17:35Z https://kfitz.info/holidays/ I’ve apparently gone on another hiatus, without really intending to do so; the hubbub surrounding the MLA issues discussed here caught me a little by surprise. Once that died down, and I cleared out a bit of... 2003-12-18T05:49:03Z https://kfitz.info/mla-and-the-single-girl/ Yesterday, on Invisible Adjunct, a post referencing an article in the Chronicle of Higher Education (subscription... 2003-12-18T05:25:32Z https://kfitz.info/ach-my-eyes/ Always on the hunt for a way to be of greater service, Planned Obsolescence hereby brings you The World’s Worst Newspaper-Headline Pun Ever, which, I... 2003-12-17T07:22:07Z https://kfitz.info/jet-lag/ I’m back in London, this week, and so this marks my fourth experience of the bone-crushing Los Angeles-to-Europe time-zone-change in the last six months. Complaining about such a set of experiences would be unseemly, of course; let me be clear... 2003-12-16T11:57:48Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-interim/ This is a difficult post to write. Every post after an unintended hiatus is hard — how to explain the absence; how to rediscover momentum — but this one carries its own peculiar difficulties.
When last I wrote... 2003-12-08T18:44:00Z https://kfitz.info/ahem/ This used to be a screenshot celebrating LSU playing for the national championship in the Sugar Bowl, but the image file and the site it linked to are now lost to time. Sigh. 2003-12-04T20:13:23Z https://kfitz.info/this-week/ The good news: It’s been over 48 hours, and I haven’t yet fallen into the “oh, sure, I got tenure, but what have I done for me lately?” that usually develops mighty quickly.
The bad news: It’s pre-registration week, and the last week of... 2003-12-02T13:28:03Z https://kfitz.info/definitions/ Anxiety is a phone that doesn’t ring when it’s supposed... 2003-11-29T16:52:51Z https://kfitz.info/during-the-break/ Posting plans have been completely overcome by the days-long non-cooperation of my hosting provider. They’re back, but now I find myself with precious little to say, except that it’s been a fabulous trip, and I’m not quite ready to re-enter the... 2003-11-24T12:48:43Z https://kfitz.info/off-again/ I’m headed back to London this afternoon for Thanksgiving break. We’re in a hotel this time, where R’s managed to cadge free high-speed access, so I ought to be able to update from there. In fact, I hope to get some good pondering and scribbling... 2003-11-22T15:10:20Z https://kfitz.info/memory/ [Part 2 in a series. Part 1 is here.]
I have erased my father from my memory. Or memories. My mother tells me that when I was a child, quite young, he was the most important thing in my life, and I... 2003-11-20T17:49:24Z https://kfitz.info/how-do-you-make-yourself-a-body-without-organs/ When asked, via other channels, what twentieth-century theorist I am, I should have known the eventual response:

You... 2003-11-19T22:15:35Z https://kfitz.info/now-thats-a-cover-letter/ I’ve spent a number of hours that I’m actually afraid to tally over the last week reading applications for the three jobs that my department is seeking to fill this year, and I must say that nary a one had the panache of Alex Golub’s 2003-11-18T03:15:05Z https://kfitz.info/the-most-recent-incident/ [Part 1 in a series. Read Part 2 and Part 3.]
While in Prague this summer, I got the following email message:

From:... 2003-11-17T11:41:41Z https://kfitz.info/wtf-2/ Okay, it’s not quite The End of the World, but bloggers all over are waking up to discover that their BlogRolls have been hijacked.
I’ve deleted mine, for the time being; I’ll have to reconstruct over the... 2003-11-12T03:10:04Z https://kfitz.info/i-didnt-see-the-danger/ From The Onion, “Mom Finds Out About Blog”:

With the raw materials in my blog, she could actually construct an accurate picture of who I am. This is fucking... 2003-11-12T03:03:24Z https://kfitz.info/catching-up-2/ First there was AoIR in Toronto. Then a quick trip to Boston for a meeting. Then the conference I organized here. Then several days with 2003-11-09T12:38:21Z https://kfitz.info/for-your-riaa-approved-listening-pleasure/ Rory, having recently rediscovered the instruction manual from a 1970s-era cassette player, has used the surreal illustrations contained therein to create 2003-11-08T02:56:52Z https://kfitz.info/prenez-la-chance/ I’d been pondering what one might refer to as the Francois Question for some time —

who is this guy?
why isn’t he blogging this amazing stuff to his own site?

— thinking that I was ahead of the game, only to... 2003-11-08T02:25:08Z https://kfitz.info/weekend/ I believe this to be the first weekend I’ve had to myself — sort of — in a month. “To myself,” in this case, means no conference, no travel, no grading. Ironically, perhaps, it also means that Mom is here, the only excuse I could grant myself for... 2003-11-06T05:00:00Z https://kfitz.info/revolutions/ No. No, no, no, no. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. No. No, no. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. No, no. No, no, no, no, no. No, no, no. No, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,... 2003-11-05T22:13:39Z https://kfitz.info/in-recognition-of-my-dorkitude/ I’m going to a preview of Matrix: Revolutions tonight.
In IMAX.
Just thought I’d share. (More substance, and perhaps even a review, soon.) 2003-11-04T12:51:41Z https://kfitz.info/troubleshooting/ I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my hosting provider — first, of course, there was that ill-timed and unannounced bit of downtime last week, which I can’t be too upset with them about, given that their... 2003-10-30T20:56:59Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-academic-and-the-personal/ [A word to the wise: what follows is twice as long as it ought to be, and very rambly. I’m operating on three nights in a row of three hours of sleep, and am correspondingly stupid beyond belief.]
I’ve expended a tremendous amount of energy... 2003-10-29T21:08:23Z https://kfitz.info/a-bang-or-a-whimper/ Definitely a bang. Or maybe California just breaks off from the rest of the US and goes off to hang with Hawaii. Either way, it’s The End of the World. (But Australia’s down there, like,... 2003-10-29T00:47:53Z https://kfitz.info/weather-report/ I took off from Ontario this morning, not only on time but a full ten minutes early (Pilot: “Well, folks, everybody’s here, so we’re gonna go”). The skies were relatively clear, much as... 2003-10-27T23:55:26Z https://kfitz.info/out-of-the-ashes/ Here’s the part where I start feeling guilty — because we’ve been spared, largely, here in Claremont. And so I start thinking things like “whew, that was close” and “thank goodness that’s over” when in fact it’s gotten so much worse in other parts... 2003-10-26T16:53:31Z https://kfitz.info/grand-prix/ Here are words I hope never to have to say again: I have packed my emergency evacuation kit, and can be ready to get out of the house in ten minutes or... 2003-10-26T12:01:44Z https://kfitz.info/the-mo-of-the-comment-spammer/ I’m finding googlings in my recent referrer logs that look like this:

[MT-Blacklist](< 2003-10-25T16:56:43Z https://kfitz.info/but-then-tragedy-struck/ On Behind the Typeface, the rise and fall of Cooper Black.
Flash required; serious font-fetish... 2003-10-24T21:18:15Z https://kfitz.info/welcome-to-toronto-stick-out-your-tongue-and-say-ah/ Accordion Guy, who not only got to attend an extended Q&A with Neal Stephenson but also won one of the door-prizes (a trip backstage to meet the author), lucky... 2003-10-24T14:24:34Z https://kfitz.info/a-sure-sign-of-the-apocalypse/ Tuesday’s high temperature here in Claremont was 102 on Mr. Fahrenheit’s scale. Today it’s snowing.
Of course, what it’s snowing is not flakes of frozen water but flakes of ash.
This is, for those of you who’ve been around a while, a... 2003-10-24T10:25:18Z https://kfitz.info/dreamlife/ I should begin with the caveat (possibly disingenuous) that I’m not ordinarily big on the “let me share with you the completely bizarre dream I had last night” conversational gambit. (What was the song that David Silver sang part of to me and Liz... 2003-10-23T17:24:26Z https://kfitz.info/where-did-that-quote-come-from-again/ Perhaps the best new bit of net technology I’ve seen in some time (okay, right after the iPod/iTunes/iTunes Music Store troika) has... 2003-10-23T16:30:38Z https://kfitz.info/what-to-say-next/ Insofar as there’s any frisson left in the f-word, it comes now: how to resume “normal” scholarly/bloggerly discourse once that particular word (much less that particular concept) has been introduced. An unforeseen circumstance, but an... 2003-10-22T23:03:55Z https://kfitz.info/the-de-sexing-of-fuck/ Yes, I recognize that I’m inviting trouble from googlers seeking something I’m not providing. But I really needed to link to this story, and the phrase just leapt out at me... 2003-10-22T22:59:10Z https://kfitz.info/that-color-picker/ I’m throwing in a link here to the color picker that everybody is 2003-10-21T23:35:42Z https://kfitz.info/dictionaraoke/ Via George comes Dictionaraoke, in which “Audio clips from online dictionaries sing the hits of yesterday and today. The fun of karaoke meets the word power of... 2003-10-21T14:50:06Z https://kfitz.info/on-busyness/ A colleague of mine, whom I haven’t seen frequently enough of late, given our mutually crazy schedules, my increasingly frequent travel, and his life with two small daughters, just stopped in the hall to ask how I was doing.
“Fine,” I told... 2003-10-21T02:11:41Z https://kfitz.info/home-is-where-the-heart-attack-starts/ One trek through downtown Toronto, one bus ride, one longish airport wait (made shorter by the higher alcohol content of Molson Canadian!), and two quite pleasant flights (see above), and I found myself back in SoCal, where it was a steamy 75... 2003-10-19T10:34:57Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-441/ ON QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
What follows is an extensive set of notes on this morning’s discussion, entitled “Broadening Options and Raising Standards for Qualitative Internet Research: A Dialogue Among Scholars.” The panel was convened by... 2003-10-18T23:21:12Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-432/ MISCELLANY REALLY IS THE LARGEST CATEGORY
What follows is, at best, disjointed and partial. I’m exhausted today (witness my playing hooky), and the brain resists processing everything I’ve heard. I have, moreover,... 2003-10-18T16:13:42Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-431/ ADVENTURES WITH ACCORDION GUY
Yesterday afternoon ended relatively early; just after my last post, the drinks began. The highlight of the evening was being invited to join Liz and 2003-10-17T17:06:09Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-423/ THE TRIANGLE IS THE BINARY OPPOSITION OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Why is it that scholars are suddenly so drawn to the triangular graphic model, as though three-ness eliminates all of the shortcomings of binary logics? Don’t get me wrong; I... 2003-10-17T11:37:25Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-422/ MY BRAIN JUST EXPLODED
The following are the notes I took in Pierre Lévy’s keynote address, “The Collective Intelligence Ontology.” There is little to no commentary here, other than the suggestion that there’s something off-puttingly and... 2003-10-17T10:01:55Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-421/ The conference has been fabulous so far, but I think the highlight for me, personally, has been reconnecting with old colleagues (David Silver, Tara McPherson, and Michele White from the NEH seminar a few years back) and getting a few faces to put... 2003-10-16T22:41:15Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-412/ ON THE QUANTITATIVE VS. THE QUALITATIVE
This reveals my deep humanities-oriented bias, but I must confess that quantitative studies leave me at a complete loss. I do admire anyone who has the patience for the counting-work of quantitative... 2003-10-16T13:52:55Z https://kfitz.info/aoir-411/ What follows is the first set of what I hope to be a decently full set of entries on my experiences here at the conference. A program note: because of some of the restrictions in wireless access... 2003-10-15T11:49:11Z https://kfitz.info/hiatus-or-change-of-locale/ I’m headed to Toronto this afternoon, and will be there through Sunday. As befits the conference, I’m traveling fully wired (wireless-equipped laptop, iPod, PDA-cum-cellphone, noise-cancelling ear buds), so I’m hoping to update from... 2003-10-14T16:55:32Z https://kfitz.info/writing-the-interface/ This week, in The Literary Machine, we’re reading Ellen Ullman’s Close to the Machine, which has led me to think... 2003-10-13T11:33:47Z https://kfitz.info/digging-through-the-archive/ As I was doing a bit of weeding this weekend, I stumbled across this entry in the archives, which made me stop and stare a... 2003-10-10T11:39:14Z https://kfitz.info/on-comment-spam/ I’d really begun to feel a bit left out: all the 2003-10-10T01:08:40Z https://kfitz.info/aoir/ I’ve been watching various blogs of... 2003-10-08T21:40:14Z https://kfitz.info/lost-in-translation/ This site has been making the blog-rounds of late, but it’s still worth playing with, for the odd poetry (and even odder critical commentary) that it’s capable of producing. Input a line of English... 2003-10-08T01:08:40Z https://kfitz.info/i-am-appalled/ With two p’s.[1] 2003-10-07T01:04:00Z https://kfitz.info/neil-postman/ Late this evening comes news of the death of Neil Postman, University Professor of Culture and Communication at NYU, and author of Amusing Ourselves to Death. I never... 2003-10-06T20:46:44Z https://kfitz.info/what-is-media-studies/ Part of my recent failure to be especially entertaining or enlightening here in the land of Obsolescence has to do with a smallish project that has absorbed increasing amounts of my already skimpy non-teaching, non-committee,... 2003-10-02T11:44:01Z https://kfitz.info/coetzee/ The Swedish Academy has this morning announced that this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature... 2003-10-01T18:58:12Z https://kfitz.info/what-happened-to-september/ Aren’t we supposed to ease into the semester?
Or, if the semester begins in complete insanity, aren’t we supposed to reach a point at which it levels off?
How can one begin with madness, and then proceed to grow... 2003-09-30T12:14:27Z https://kfitz.info/blogs-teaching-and-privacy/ ogged dropped me a line this morning pointing me to a discussion taking place over at Crooked Timber this... 2003-09-26T16:27:52Z https://kfitz.info/i-need-suggestions/ As you know, I have a new iPod. (No, this is not another gloating entry.)
I have also had for a while now an eMusic account.
I have no facility, however, for keeping up with the music the kids are listening to... 2003-09-25T12:40:07Z https://kfitz.info/rip-edward-said/ Via the New York Times comes... 2003-09-24T23:03:28Z https://kfitz.info/how-old-am-i/ I have just discovered something that has completely freaked me out. Ordinarily, I am pretty unfazed by the whole passage-of-time, getting-older, good-lord, what-happened-to-my-early-thirties thing.
However, I’ve just discovered through a... 2003-09-24T00:33:13Z https://kfitz.info/dont-vote-no-do-but-dont/ An update to last week’s petard-hoisting news: the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals 2003-09-23T01:35:14Z https://kfitz.info/new-toy/ I finally got my hands on my new iPod this morning, after a series of nail-biting delays. I’d paid for the two-day express shipping when I ordered it, and it shipped on September 12, so I’d expected to have... 2003-09-18T23:51:14Z https://kfitz.info/thursday-evening/ This was for many semesters the end of my week; I had in front of me a blissful four-day stretch until the next occasion on which I had to walk into a classroom, four days in which I could read, write, and generally fulminate.
Fulminating... 2003-09-17T21:02:17Z https://kfitz.info/unveiling-the-literary-machine/ Some of you may have noticed the new link that appeared a couple of days ago, unannounced, under “Other Obsolescence.” I’m happy to make the announcement, if belatedly, that my class blog is up... 2003-09-16T13:02:33Z https://kfitz.info/i-apologize-in-advance/ From the good people who brought you Badgers Badgers Badgers Badgers MUSHROOM MUSHROOM, comes the inexplicably-titled 2003-09-16T01:08:47Z https://kfitz.info/supreme-court-hoisted-by-own-petard-film-at-11/ The big news around these parts today is the potential 2003-09-15T02:13:05Z https://kfitz.info/look-out-phillip-morris/ Via MetaFilter comes news that won’t really shock anybody, at this point, but ought to horrify all of us: the USA PATRIOT Act and a slew of related state legislation are being 2003-09-12T10:19:31Z https://kfitz.info/after-the-silence/ I spent yesterday in my office, behind a closed door, listening to music through noise-cancelling headphones. Reading Habermas, on the disintegration of the public sphere. Unable to admit anything else about the day.
It’s hard to get going... 2003-09-11T11:46:47Z https://kfitz.info/872/ 2003-09-10T19:02:07Z https://kfitz.info/peer-review/ Thanks much to Jason for his recent entry rounding up some related thoughts at blogs around these... 2003-09-09T12:56:31Z https://kfitz.info/things-i-wish-i-had-written-part-1/ From Rory comes the Victorian Boy’s Guide to Blogging. Go forth and read it yourself, with the first verse below to entice you:

The nicely tended... 2003-09-09T00:52:45Z https://kfitz.info/i-need-advice/ Happy consumerist techno-geek advice, that is.
Is there any particular reason you can think of that I shouldn’t buy myself an iPod?
Or perhaps you might want to help talk me into it.... 2003-09-06T19:35:56Z https://kfitz.info/hey-kettle-its-pot-youre-black/ Oh, the irony: at roughly the same moment that I was calling somone out in the Invisible Adjunct’s comments for what I took to be the implicit suggestion that professors at small... 2003-09-06T12:50:40Z https://kfitz.info/rock-star/ The question of “rock-star professors” has resurfaced, in the form of a Stanley Fish article... 2003-09-04T16:29:04Z https://kfitz.info/on-rereading-again/ I’ve been intermittently concerned, over the last weeks, with questions of repetition, particularly surrounding the scholarly impetus to reread and rewrite. Now I’m replaying those... 2003-09-03T19:30:37Z https://kfitz.info/day-one/ I guess there’s no denying it, now — the semester has begun. It actually began yesterday, but as I’ve moved, this semester, from my accustomed Tuesday/Thursday afternoon teaching schedule to a bright-and-early Monday/Wednesday/Friday morning one,... 2003-09-02T11:04:18Z https://kfitz.info/goodbye-magic-kingdom/ Via Alas, a blog comes the news:

Sadly, the Walt Disney company is gradually shutting down its 2-D animation department. They’ve decided that the... 2003-09-01T11:10:53Z https://kfitz.info/on-education-blogs-and-other-ranting/ The conversation about professorial personas, professional ethics, and blogging continues over at weezBlog, where Elouise considers the question of virtual fraternization —... 2003-08-31T19:15:45Z https://kfitz.info/distraction/ I realized today that over the last weeks, I’ve begun a series of thoughts here that I haven’t fully followed through on — too appropriately, the thoughts seem to obsolesce before they hit the input screen. My 2003-08-30T17:26:31Z https://kfitz.info/ouch/ I’ve been away for a bit (as those of you reading this — and I quote — “US person’s boring memoirs about his travel trips” (ahem) already know), and since I’ve been back, I’ve been caught in the thick of semester... 2003-08-28T22:20:32Z https://kfitz.info/we-now-resume-our-semi-regularly-scheduled-broadcast/ Alas, the blogging-from-London bit didn’t pan out quite as well as I’d hoped — in no small part because I was having too much fun to stop and reflect on the fun that I was in the midst of having.
Now that I’m back in the SoCal heat, and in... 2003-08-21T07:11:15Z https://kfitz.info/veer-left/ BT has managed to get things up and running here once again (not that we really blame him for the outage, which was admittedly systemic and not individual, but we imagined that a rather delayed... 2003-08-18T14:35:05Z https://kfitz.info/in-the-internet-cafe/ The internet cafe is a lovely thing — not this particular one, I mean, but the general development. Give the folks behind the counter one unit of the local currency, and receive in exchange some quantity of time on a high-speed connection, to... 2003-08-15T17:23:34Z https://kfitz.info/recent-googlings/ Why is it that folks who find Planned Obsolescence via net searches mostly show up in the wee hours of the night?
And why are they searching for:
– 2003-08-14T14:26:32Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-geography-of-blogging/ Having finished with the statement, and returning to the Gibson article, I’ve made the last-minute decision to accompany the Significant... 2003-08-13T16:00:12Z https://kfitz.info/the-qualifying-exam-meets-the-cult-of-personality/ I did abysmally on Marcel’s People test. How did you do? 2003-08-12T13:30:49Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-truth-value-of-memoir/ This thread just goes on: today on Salon (via 2003-08-12T13:03:26Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-personal-statement/ I’m a little flat today, and unlikely to find the inspiration I need for a properly ponderable post. The flatness has something to do with the heat here, which has ratcheted back up to the usual August/September levels of misery, bringing along... 2003-08-11T12:38:17Z https://kfitz.info/synthesis/ In a bizarre merger of the background materials of my last two posts, Jill... 2003-08-08T13:59:24Z https://kfitz.info/on-rereading-gibson/ Determined to heed Francois’s advice and practice my rereading of Neuromancer in the hope that some of its details might adhere,... 2003-08-07T15:18:09Z https://kfitz.info/on-rewriting/ For years I’ve nagged my students to adopt a more critical eye toward the work they turn in to me, to refuse to be content with the first draft, to step back, take a breath, and attempt a real re-vision of their writing. Writing is... 2003-08-06T17:22:41Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-need-to-reread/ I’m about to begin a rereading of Neuromancer for that article on spatial metaphors, geopolitics, and cyberspace I’ve been working on.... 2003-08-05T12:20:29Z https://kfitz.info/outlast-outplay-outtheorize/ Invisible Adjunct reports on Unfogged‘s pitch for a new... 2003-08-04T16:36:07Z https://kfitz.info/the-definition-of-a-bad-work-day/ Have spent nearly an hour on hold with AAA and the DMV, after having realized that my car registration and insurance both expire this Friday, and I haven’t received any renewal information from either.
Shockingly enough — and I know you’ll... 2003-08-03T17:54:58Z https://kfitz.info/blogging-and-the-classroom-redux/ A weekend post by Liz Lawley returned me to my recent thoughts about how to integrate a group-authored blog into my fall class on the Literary... 2003-08-01T13:04:20Z https://kfitz.info/and-were-back/ … sort of.
We rolled back northward from SIGGRAPH yesterday, a bit dazed yet from the sensory overflow of the conference and the tradeshow. I’m not sure that I’m quite done processing what I’ve picked up this week (including participating... 2003-07-27T15:02:33Z https://kfitz.info/my-favorite-advertising-slogan-ever/ “Attitude is a state of mind.” –billboard for unknown women’s clothing store, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
P.S. Boy, do I seriously wish I had a digital camera. 2003-07-22T12:10:59Z https://kfitz.info/dear-waste-20/ Today’s second installment of what has apparently become an ongoing feature brings us further advisories, in over the 2003-07-21T13:10:36Z https://kfitz.info/siggraph-anyone/ As SIGGRAPH is happening practically in my backyard this year, and as I’m working on trying to get this INP off the ground (and could thus use all the imagination-stimulation... 2003-07-18T13:17:13Z https://kfitz.info/scholarly-publishing-copyright-and-the-web/ In a big hurry to get some non-blogging work done today, so I’m going to beg off by steering you all to Rory‘s thoughts on the manipulation of intellectual property laws by... 2003-07-17T13:39:08Z https://kfitz.info/on-the-humanities-in-theory/ The conversation about David Weddle’s... 2003-07-16T13:46:21Z https://kfitz.info/crime-and-punishment/ Today on MetaFilter: a link to a report of a Pennsylvania man who, accused of spitting at a... 2003-07-15T15:00:48Z https://kfitz.info/film-theory-has-nothing-to-do-with-film/ I resisted posting on this yesterday, in part because I was so angry I couldn’t think of anything worthwhile to say. I’m still not sure I can muster a sufficiently articulate response, but I feel I have to take a crack at it.
The 2003-07-14T13:54:51Z https://kfitz.info/lost-in-space/ I’m working these days on expanding a paper I gave at a recent conference, hoping that it’ll transform in the process into a draft of a chapter of the 2003-07-11T13:48:31Z https://kfitz.info/blogging-and-the-classroom/ Since my fantastic meeting with George a couple of days ago, I’ve been thinking more about my plan to fold a group blog into one of my fall classes. George... 2003-07-11T13:24:14Z https://kfitz.info/quick-tech-question/ Bill reports that he’s been having some difficulty loading the Planned Obsolescence front page, and this reminded me: back during our European... 2003-07-10T13:12:59Z https://kfitz.info/welcome-sven/ I’m assuming, and I think not incorrectly, that many of the folks currently reading my meanderings have read and either celebrated or despised (or some deeply ambivalent mixture of the two) Sven Birkerts’ 2003-07-09T13:16:28Z https://kfitz.info/hype-literary-anxiety-and-cultural-studies/ Bill directs our attention to a pretty hefty MeFi discussion of 2003-07-08T18:07:04Z https://kfitz.info/unplanned-absence/ Sorry for the no-update today, folks (as well as for the unavailability of comments earlier in the day); my hosting provider migrated the site to an upgraded server late last night, and we encountered some minor but pesky database problems as a... 2003-07-07T12:59:28Z https://kfitz.info/on-reading-slowly/ This recent post by vika has made me uncomfortably conscious of the slowness with which the pile of books I’d planned on reading this summer is diminishing — or, more accurately, the... 2003-07-04T17:08:09Z https://kfitz.info/independence-day/ Rather than taxing my heat-cramped brain by attempting to come up with a clever ‘why I’m not posting today’ post, here’s instead a smattering of July 4th postings from blogs around the way: 2003-07-03T14:41:27Z https://kfitz.info/yes-i-did-go-see-it/ On opening night. And paid full price, at that.
Legally Blonde 2, that is.
A good friend of mine and I have for the last several summers made a point of seeing as many bad... 2003-07-02T12:38:04Z https://kfitz.info/future-writing/ One of the reasons I’m so concerned about the relationship between this site and my current scholarly work (or lack thereof) is that my new project (or, as I’m beginning to think about it, my Imaginary New Project... 2003-07-01T13:44:27Z https://kfitz.info/academic-superstardom-and-its-costs/ There’s a fascinating conversation going on in two different posts on Invisible Adjunct (post... 2003-06-30T14:14:53Z https://kfitz.info/on-not-writing/ I’ve intended for the last couple of weeks to begin writing in here about my new project, or about my intent toward that project, in any event. Or, for that matter, about things I’m reading, things I’m watching, and so on. It’s one of my goals... 2003-06-27T19:22:05Z https://kfitz.info/hey-ive-got-an-rss-feed/ To be found here. Who knew. God love Movable Type.
[UPDATE 5.27.04: post-migration, various feeds are now in the menubar.] 2003-06-27T14:47:32Z https://kfitz.info/actual-book-news-contained-herein/ Neal Stephenson, author of the riotous Snow Crash, the envy-inspiring 2003-06-26T15:02:49Z https://kfitz.info/hurray-for-the-so-called-homosexual-agenda/ And hurray for the Supreme Court.
According to the New York Times (subscription required), the crotchety ones have briefly emerged from the... 2003-06-25T15:57:29Z https://kfitz.info/amidst-the-gnashing-of-teeth/ I’d hoped to write something of substance today, something considering the impact that the Supreme Court’s Monday half-decision on affirmative action will have on higher education, or perhaps another bit of reportage from the Amsterdam/Prague... 2003-06-24T12:50:24Z https://kfitz.info/and-the-winner-is/ I’d promised some time back to keep you posted on my adventures in the land of consumer electronics. After a bit of comparison shopping, both for cell-phone/PDA combo devices and for wireless phone services, I... 2003-06-23T12:29:57Z https://kfitz.info/split-decision/ According to the wire services, the Supreme Court has issued a 2003-06-20T13:12:09Z https://kfitz.info/oops-2/ I just discovered this morning that I missed my own one-year anniversary; Planned Obsolescence made its inauspicious debut exactly one year and two days ago, broadcasting from the sunny shores of Waikiki.
Here’s the part that makes me want... 2003-06-19T14:30:22Z https://kfitz.info/harry-potter-mania/ Yes, mania. According to the Beeb, not only did the Daily News violate the strictest of literary embargoes by running a story that... 2003-06-18T12:44:44Z https://kfitz.info/but-do-they-play-bar-mitzvahs/ One of the things one does as a tourist in Prague — one of those musts, like visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris, or seeing the Empire State Building in New York — is to make the across-the-Charles-Bridge and up-the-hill hike to the 2003-06-17T10:43:55Z https://kfitz.info/moving-day/ We’re moving office today, as our building is going to be renovated over the next twelve months. Yesterday, I packed up everything that wasn’t to be moved directly into my temporary office and lugged it home. Today, I’m headed in to watch the... 2003-06-16T11:30:27Z https://kfitz.info/eerste-things-eerste/ Yes, all you impatient readers (well, Bill), we’re back Stateside, and mostly recovered from the nine-timezone, two-day, train, plane, and automobile journey from Central Europe back to the Far Southwest. Planned... 2003-05-27T12:49:46Z https://kfitz.info/obsolete-and-away/ We’ve gone on a bit of a hiatus here, as you can no doubt tell. The hellish end of semester rituals gave way to travel preparations, which gave way to the actual travel. Planned Obsolescence is spending the week in Amsterdam, and will next week be... 2003-05-07T01:29:02Z https://kfitz.info/william-gibson/ …no longer has a blog. Or won’t soon, anyhow. Claiming concerns that, as he puts it, “the ecology of writing novels wouldn’t be able to exist if I’m in daily... 2003-05-02T12:45:17Z https://kfitz.info/adventures-in-technology-part-two/ I had a microwave. It weighed something near unto 50 pounds, and it cost me something on the order of $400 when I bought it 18 years ago. (The number of numbers in the previous sentence begins to make this look like a word problem — answer: 44... 2003-05-01T12:05:50Z https://kfitz.info/life-in-the-out-of-the-limelight-limelight/ One of my pals here in the English Department at the College Just South of the Hill was the subject of a very odd feature in this past... 2003-04-23T17:45:08Z https://kfitz.info/can-you-hear-me-now/ So the antenna broke off of my cell phone the other day, and I’m imagining all that electromagnetic activity, with no other focal point, penetrating my skull and gradually radicalizing all my brain cells.
Couple that with my general desire... 2003-04-14T13:20:26Z https://kfitz.info/how-you-know-postmodernism-is-dead/ The link will tell you so.
Anyone who can report to me on the whereabouts of my (okay, sure, long defunct, but still) website will be added to the pantheon of... 2003-04-03T05:00:35Z https://kfitz.info/the-poetry-of-dh-rumsfeld/ From Slate. Need I say more? 2003-04-02T14:30:58Z https://kfitz.info/simshakespeare/ Yesterday, when our good friends at The Morning News linked to this article in... 2003-03-28T18:54:48Z https://kfitz.info/dear-waste/ In over the transom today:

Having looked through a few pages of “Gravity’s Rainbow”, I found to my shock and horror that it was... 2003-03-25T22:07:57Z https://kfitz.info/now-thats-significant/ Anybody who knows me (or who’s been bored enough to peruse the archives of obsolescence) knows that I’m a sucker for the book... 2003-03-14T04:20:15Z https://kfitz.info/why-not-attack-evilania/ Whew… the posts just keep coming fast and furious this week. Spring break began for me today (well, yesterday, given that it’s now after midnight) at 5 pm, and I’m just raring to go.
To go to D.C., that is, where I intend to lie around... 2003-03-14T02:59:33Z https://kfitz.info/who-was-that-masked-literary-researcher/ According to The Memory Hole, Thomas Pynchon’s lost-ish writings for Boeing, dating between early 1960 and mid-1962, may in fact resurface. These technical... 2003-03-12T12:30:46Z https://kfitz.info/big-readers/ Book Magazine has released this list of “America’s Biggest Readers” (via 2003-03-12T01:55:20Z https://kfitz.info/meetings-none-of-us-is-as-dumb-as-all-of-us/ Perhaps you’re a wholly reasonable person, with the potential to become an irrational fool? Perhaps you’re a team player, with a potentially argumentative loner lurking about inside you? Or perhaps you’re a dreamer, within whom lives... 2003-03-07T01:06:56Z https://kfitz.info/whether-you-like-it-or-not/ The following exchange is available for your further perusal in the most recent issue of Harpers.

TOTO RECALL?
From an October email exchange between Holger Turck and... 2003-02-27T21:14:18Z https://kfitz.info/back-from-the-undead/ Well, almost.
Oprah’s back, that is; she announced today that the book club will soon be back from the dead. Interestingly,... 2003-02-24T16:26:28Z https://kfitz.info/worst-novel-ever/ Gene Weingarten at the Washington Post believes himself to have found “the worst novel ever published in the English language.” Moreover, he has gotten an 2003-02-19T23:32:44Z https://kfitz.info/unplanned-absence-2/ Sorry for the protracted radio silence; we’ve been in the home stretch of a search here, and I’ve been spending an astonishing amount of time going to job talks, conducting interviews, and generally glad-handing about. Then, in the interstices,... 2003-01-29T19:39:56Z https://kfitz.info/information-security-begins-with-you/ The Propaganda Remix Project. Some of these are fantastic. 2003-01-26T19:07:12Z https://kfitz.info/do-androids-dream-of-the-key-to-the-executive-washroom/ Spent much of yesterday re-reading Philip K. Dick‘s 2003-01-21T20:53:35Z https://kfitz.info/advance-reading/ It’s the first day of classes here at the College Just South of the Hill, and we’re all settling down with piles of books and crisp new notebooks. I’m hoping, this semester, to get some mileage out of those classes here in the land of... 2003-01-16T04:23:48Z https://kfitz.info/you-havent-read-my-book-have-you/ Why doesn’t Booknotes sound more like this? (Via 2003-01-15T17:57:58Z https://kfitz.info/life-among-the-pre-rich/ Or, why the Democrats keep shifting rightward in defiance of Marxist theory. With pointed analysis from “the sociologist Jennifer Lopez.” (Via 2003-01-10T19:33:09Z https://kfitz.info/the-wasp-factory/ I have in the last few days finished reading Iain Banks’s The Wasp Factory, and find myself itching... 2003-01-08T14:45:34Z https://kfitz.info/im-gonna-take-you-on-a-surfin-oh-you-know/ Am happily running the public beta of Apple’s very own browser, Safari. It’s got that groovy brushed-metal iInterface that grace all the hippest iApps, even despite its absence of iNess.... 2003-01-07T18:50:43Z https://kfitz.info/i-never-was-a-technical-guy-and-never-will-be/ William Gibson has a blog. 2003-01-01T14:13:56Z https://kfitz.info/farewell-to-the-palindrome/ 2002 ended with a lurch: My flight back west was hung up in Houston for 3 hours due to storms, and so arrived at 1:15 am on December 31, rather than 10:15 pm, Dec. 30. Waited for suitcase, grabbed cab, gave directions to difficult-to-find... 2002-12-30T23:39:05Z https://kfitz.info/a-passage-to-mordor-by-e-m-forster/ Or perhaps Hunt for the Ring, by Tom Clancy. Can’t decide which is my favorite. 2002-12-30T17:04:16Z https://kfitz.info/on-fleeing-times-square/ A brief return to the blogsphere, with the promise of more shortly.
Have spent the last four days in the town part of me still considers 2002-11-25T21:38:24Z https://kfitz.info/um-is-this-thing-on/ Remember me? I used to write stuff here, and periodically even had something to say. Alas, in the last few weeks I’ve been transformed into a committee drone, and have been mucking about in a paperwork swamp. Really. If paper could ooze, I’d be... 2002-11-11T22:23:10Z https://kfitz.info/deconstruction-2/ An odd weekend: I made the mistake of reaching for a hairbrush on Saturday morning — I should know better — and was rewarded with a muscle spasm between left shoulderblade and spine. The initial sensation — think cattle prod — was bad enough, but... 2002-11-05T13:02:05Z https://kfitz.info/none-of-the-above/ Have just come from completing civic duty, which is increasingly difficult to imagine has any beneficial effect in the world, given the awful lesser-of-two- 2002-10-25T14:42:22Z https://kfitz.info/the-news-just-keeps-getting-worse/ One day after Shauny‘s outcry against the ongoing horrors of the morning news, there is 2002-10-24T19:49:40Z https://kfitz.info/arrgh/ I’ve been gnashing my teeth over a stupid browser problem, and bemoaning said browser’s total lack of online support, particularly of the discussion group... 2002-10-19T00:27:04Z https://kfitz.info/fall-break/ Ahhh. A few blissful days to regroup, kick off one’s shoes, sip a warm beverage, grade two stacks of papers, read three books, plan two committee meetings, fly to Albuquerque for a conference, finish the revisions on the manuscript, meet with the... 2002-10-08T18:20:43Z https://kfitz.info/whats-next-postmodernism-the-musical/ This is apparently the season of the improbable stage production here in SoCal. Two much-acclaimed works of cultural criticism (each with ties to the journalistic tradition, but with very different results) have been set loose upon the stage in... 2002-10-03T21:24:21Z https://kfitz.info/a-farewell-to-ernest/ Then in the late summer of that year there was reading, much reading of many books, and many of them were fine books. Some of the books we read were to be written about, and some of the books were just for fun, and some of the books were to be... 2002-09-30T09:27:31Z https://kfitz.info/where-theres-smoke/ Just a few miles north of here — how few can be attested by the near-constant whirring of engines overhead and the overwhelmingly acrid air — the mountains are on fire, and have been for a week. Air quality has deteriorated to the extent that all... 2002-09-25T16:55:51Z https://kfitz.info/back-to-school/ The new season has at last begun, and eager students are buckling down all over campus, absorbing new materials, debating new ideas, and anticipating developments to come.
I’m referring, of course, to the new television season.
I’ve... 2002-09-19T12:36:14Z https://kfitz.info/the-role-of-the-book/ I have spent much of the last six days cooling my heels through various plane flights (and the inevitably attendant airport delays), dawdling in various hotel rooms, and generally seeking ways to pass the time. My strategies for time-passage have... 2002-09-18T12:41:33Z https://kfitz.info/me-charlie-kurault/ Planned Obsolescence has been on the road these last five days, and has had only the most tenuous of connections to the Internet. Please forgive our absence; we’ll be back with further ruminations in a day or two. 2002-09-11T03:00:46Z https://kfitz.info/today-of-course/ Night before last (meaning Monday night, the 9th), I watched Showtime’s airing of Reflections from Ground Zero, a series of nine short films produced by graduate students... 2002-09-09T20:52:57Z https://kfitz.info/violence-and-the-novel-part-two/ I’m rereading The House of Mirth for class right now, and I’m taking under advisement mariah’s suggestion that I remove Laurence Selden from my list of characters I’d like to smack around. Perhaps... 2002-09-03T11:16:29Z https://kfitz.info/orientation/ Classes begin today, my friends, thus ending the long orientation process that precedes every fall semester. The bulk of our students showed up on campus this weekend. Some had been here longer, of course: a very few were here all summer; another... 2002-08-29T12:57:09Z https://kfitz.info/because-you-didnt-ask/ The Top Five[1] Fictional Characters I’d Like to Slap Around:
1. Lily Bart, The House of Mirth. First, last, and always. How can she not see the mistakes she’s making?... 2002-08-26T12:12:30Z https://kfitz.info/i-need-a-404-page/ like this. 2002-08-23T10:26:00Z https://kfitz.info/twelve-reasons-i-hate-neil-labute/ 1. For his conviction that he had the right temperament to succeed in his adaptation of Possession, a brilliant novel now stinking up a Multiplex near you: “I loved the parallel stories … really all the things that were in the book... 2002-08-22T13:37:20Z https://kfitz.info/the-perils-of-genius/ No, not my own.
As promised, some thoughts about Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai, from the cover of which one would be... 2002-08-20T19:24:42Z https://kfitz.info/coming-soon/ I’ve been running hither and yon (mostly yon) these last weeks, and dealing with the complexities of life-in-a-suitcase, and thus failing to resume anything like my normal programming schedule. But I promise, I’ll be back with new things... 2002-08-12T12:54:26Z https://kfitz.info/summer-reading/ Having gotten myself and my stuff by various paths back to Southern California (though I am at a loss to say we all arrived in one piece, as said stuff has yet to be unpacked, and cannot be unpacked until a date by which the promise of... 2002-08-08T13:12:28Z https://kfitz.info/that-i-didnt-expect/ Hi. You guys are moving me, and I’m trying to get some information about where my stuff is.
— Okay.
— Today’s the last day of my delivery window. And I got a call yesterday telling me that the driver would be showing up with... 2002-07-24T12:08:34Z https://kfitz.info/peck-peck-peck/ A quick update to last week’s comment on Dale Peck’s cranky outburst occasioned by his review of Rick Moody’s The Black Veil. Bill has continued the discussion on his site,... 2002-07-23T11:51:49Z https://kfitz.info/return-of-the-depressed/ Okay, I’m not really depressed so much as crushed under the weight of the belongings I’ve got to get sorted out and into boxes in the next 24 hours. I’d hoped that, returning from NOLA to SoCal, the long division of my stuff would end. My... 2002-07-18T10:33:01Z https://kfitz.info/yikes/ Should a reviewer of contemporary fiction actually be required to, say, like contemporary fiction?
The question is raised for me by Dale Peck’s review... 2002-07-15T10:11:00Z https://kfitz.info/academic-obsolescence-indeed/ Mail is taking a while to catch up with me these days, given that it’s got to go through the postal service, campus mail, my department, campus mail, and the postal service again before it gets to me. So needless to say, I’m a little behind on... 2002-07-12T10:38:04Z https://kfitz.info/not-bloody-likely/ Um, hi. I’m trying to get an estimate on a small move.
— Where from?
— New Orleans.
— And to?
— Southern California.
— How small a move?
— I’m in a small one-bedroom, but it’s... 2002-07-11T10:00:19Z https://kfitz.info/hmmm/ I spent a chunk of this past weekend hanging out in my apartment, not wanting to think about either the quantity of work I have to do in the next two weeks or the fact that somehow all of my belongings in this apartment need to transport... 2002-07-10T13:33:46Z https://kfitz.info/silence/ Well, I managed to conclude the conclusion in a temporarily satisfactory way, despite the deafening roar of absolute silence on your end. Okay, point taken. I’ll do my own work. Sigh.
Having done so, and not being quite ready to begin the... 2002-07-09T10:42:17Z https://kfitz.info/heres-a-question/ So, I’m nearing the conclusion of the conclusion of the book I’ve been working on for the last umpteen years. Which of course doesn’t mean I’m done — there’s still the introduction to be written, and the first chapter to be polished up a... 2002-07-08T09:27:37Z https://kfitz.info/july-9-1982/ Tomorrow is the twentieth anniversary of the crash of Pan Am 759, which fell victim to a wind shear during takeoff from New Orleans International, plowing into a nearby Kenner neighborhood, killing eight people on the ground and all 146... 2002-07-05T22:09:49Z https://kfitz.info/technologies-wed-like-to-see-become-obsolete/ And the wonderful folks helping steer them that way: Click To Add Title. Genuinely sublime. 2002-07-04T09:48:31Z https://kfitz.info/sounds-familiar/ Continuing the Richard Powers binge, I just yesterday finished reading Gain, which traces the corporate history of Clare International,... 2002-07-03T10:50:11Z https://kfitz.info/them-singin-dancin-demons-do-it-every-time/ Inspired in part by the wonderful pulchritude, and in part by my own overindulgences, I’ve undertaken a plan of (somewhat) radical detoxing. The most significant aspect... 2002-07-02T17:52:42Z https://kfitz.info/the-times-roman-they-are-a-changin/ Or, Smooth, part two.
After spending a day with the site, and with other sites, and after some extremely useful feedback, I’ve made a little design revision. Things are still malleable, though, so I’m open to... 2002-07-02T14:39:59Z https://kfitz.info/smooth/ Eek! I just downloaded and installed IE 5.2 for OS X, which counts among its improvements “support for the new Quartz text smoothing feature.” And boy, do things look smooth. I’m deeply unsure how I feel about this. For those of you 2002-07-01T10:41:31Z https://kfitz.info/rubbed-out/ Entertainment Weekly recently reported on the latest shady doings from the world of la cosa nostra: Fairuza Balk, who appeared in... 2002-06-28T14:51:45Z https://kfitz.info/preparing-for-re-entry/ The last day in Hawaii, alas. Packing up the suitcase, hunting for the items lost beneath the bed. Realizing that I only took 8 pictures while I was here, and now this roll of film will languish in my camera until after Christmas, when I’ll... 2002-06-27T16:35:59Z https://kfitz.info/lessons-i-wish-id-learned-sooner/ Just because you read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn five years ago doesn’t mean you’ll remember its details during your orals.

When told in the early stages of a relationship the excruciating details of... 2002-06-26T14:38:33Z https://kfitz.info/influence-part-ii/ Previously, on Planned Obsolescence: the book list, not as designator of “quality” or “greatness,” but rather of “influence,” which one intrepid reader... 2002-06-25T14:59:52Z https://kfitz.info/dept-of-musical-revisionism/ Earlier that day, over lunch:
Me (hearing “Born in the U.S.A.” over the restaurant P.A. system): How on earth did those Republican knuckleheads hear this song and decide it was a patriotic anthem?
He: It makes total sense. Their... 2002-06-24T15:20:12Z https://kfitz.info/hey-wheres-the-joy-of-cooking/ In the spirit of two years ago, I’ve recently been directed to this list of the 100 Most Influential Books of the Century. The shift in directive — influence rather than... 2002-06-21T12:43:27Z https://kfitz.info/hawaii-is-good/ for many things. For getting up at 4 am since your body can still be fooled into thinking it’s 9.
For catching up on that reading you meant to do years ago but could never quite get to.
For keeping... 2002-06-20T14:46:45Z https://kfitz.info/mining-the-backlist/ I’m one of those folks whose first introduction to Richard Powers was Galatea 2.2, which I suppose is the place that a lot of people... 2002-06-19T14:30:03Z https://kfitz.info/true-confessions/ Okay, time to come clean. I’m in (what I most sincerely hope to be) the end stages of writing a book that focuses on this question of obsolescence, particularly the anxieties that literary culture seems to exude any time it considers its... 2002-06-18T15:35:00Z https://kfitz.info/opening-day/ Here’s the main issue: obsolescence. A forum for exploring it, and for producing it. A space in which to think about the intimate interrelationship of new media and old media, and the ways in which newness and oldness are inevitably predicated on...