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For 135 years the Dictionary of National Biography has been the national record of noteworthy men and women who’ve shaped the British past. Today’s Dictionary retains many attributes of its Victorian predecessor, not least a focus on concise and balanced accounts of individuals from all walks of national history. But there have also been changes in how these life stories are encapsulated and conveyed.

The post Let the people speak: history with voices appeared first on OUPblog.

Puppi doesn’t like cable.  He feels like it is a leash, but he wears it as a crown…

He wears a crown of ethernet cable.

He feels the need to be wireless today.  So off we go… Puppi Unplugged.

Puppicasso Sunrise

Puppi Reflective

Puppi Photo Enforced.

Puppi Waiting for the Cross.

Puppicasso Still Life Self-Portrait, titled "Still Waiting." (for sale by owner)

Ah, the glamour of snail mail.

Puppi Postage'

Puppi's Parking Meter runs like a cab's.

0 Comments on Puppicasso Predictions #25 as of 1/1/1900

Immigrant teens (in the spirit of today being the anniversary of 9/11, I thought I would post this article about a photography exhibit in Los Angeles documenting the experience of new young Americans) (Jewish Journal) - Too much girl talk? (I feel... Read the rest of this post

‘High School Musical 3′ on MySpace (since most of the viewers are over 14, right?) - Club Penguin’s newspaper (doing better than its real world counterparts - kinda funny) (Wired) - Smart girls rock! (new Vanilla Star Jeans ad... Read the rest of this post

I was explaining to a drop-in time student today the difference between dial-up and broadband and satellite internet and wifi. She is buying a laptop. Her first computer. She is 83 years old. She is also probably going to be my future landlady. I said that even though she was in a place with no telephone, she could go to the public library with her laptop and get online pretty easily. All the little public libraries in my area have free wifi, and in most cases it’s the only place in town to get it. MaintainIT linked to a good set of sites where libraries (or anyone) can advertise their wifi for free. People zooming through town will know they can get online with their laptops at your library. Neat.

GPS tracking has always been controversial when it comes to parenting teens -- how can you build trust and spy on your kid's whereabouts at the same time? This Reuters article on research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health proposes GPS... Read the rest of this post

One of the biggest take aways for me from MTV's 2006 research on youth activism was the need to make it simple for teens -- local, easy to participate, a click away or a text message away. The folks at Do Something called to let me know about their... Read the rest of this post

I loved this quote from Naomi S. Baron, author of Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World, is Professor of Linguistics at American University in Washington, DC., putting our concern about the "texting gap" into a global perspective. From... Read the rest of this post

Yesterday I spoke to a reporter about the notion of whether or not growing up with cell phones actually leads teens to feel like they can do stuff more easily like girls asking boys out. The discussion actually began with the story of a Virginia... Read the rest of this post

Our cellphones ourselves (lengthy Washington Post, reg. required, article with lines like: "Girls stare into their cellphone screens as if into the mirrors of compacts, looking to see a reflection of themselves in who has called, who has messaged.... Read the rest of this post

When I've spoken about teens having new tools to stay connected 24/7, I often use the analogy of the three-way call or how we used to stay on the landline phone as long as we could. I think that analogy explains the desire for the technology but not... Read the rest of this post

Sorry. Writing Chapter Seven, still, and doing almost nothing else. (Scarlett Perkins has just arrived at the library to look at the microfiche files of old newspapers.) It's a bit of a wrench to go back from the fountain pen to the keyboard. Just received the sad news that the writing cabin in the woods I use sometimes -- mostly to type or proofread undisturbed -- now has wireless... (damn!)

This came in a couple of weeks ago, but I've held off on answering it until I knew what was happening...

Whatever became of the annual Dave Sim/Neil Gaiman lithograph auction mentioned here: http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2004/11/on-table.asp ? I was one of many who didn't win the first one, and I was hoping to have another crack at it...

What happened was the US Post Office.

I got the second one in a year ago, painted and collaged on it, sent it off (insured) to the CBLDF. Then we waited. It didn't arrive. And then we discovered that simply insuring something for a value doesn't really matter if the Post Office doesn't want to pay... A saga that went on for a year.

Dave just sent me a new 2007 lithograph -- I think this may be my personal one -- which I plan to art all over and give to the CBLDF to auction, to make up for the one the Post Office lost. And I think we'll send it FedEx, as well, just to be on the safe side. And the 2008 one should happen fairly soon -- possibly to coincide with the New York Comic-Con. We'll see.

Look, Neil!

I just thought that would be the kind of site you would like...

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

Regards,
Richard.

It is! How wonderful.

Hi Neil

I've noticed on your blog that you often say the stories you write have been in your head for years. I was wondering, do you deliberately leave ideas gestating for years before doing anything with them, or is it simply because you have a large backlog of ideas? I've noticed with my own writing that for some reason, the older the idea, the more comfortable it feels to write. Do you find that?

Thanks!
Ben

A bit of both. Sometimes it's nice to have an idea for a book or a story in the back of your head for years, accreting bits to it, growing and becoming bigger and more interesting, sometimes it's a worrying thing having a story you'd like to write and aren't getting to, for very occasionally, alone in the darkness, they die and rot and turn to mould and slime.

It tends to be less intentional (except for The Graveyard Book, which was a better idea than I was a writer twenty years ago) than to do with how much I write and who's waiting for what.

Hello Neil,Is there any significant difference between Anansi Boys and Anansi Boys: a novel (P.S)? I have read Anansi Boys and want to buy my own copy, and Amazon has both editions/versions. When I was nine or ten my teacher read Anansi stories to the class. I've had a soft spot for him ever since.Thank you
Morag Gray

The (P.S.) editions of the books on Amazon.com are the large format "trade paperback" editions, with interviews in the back (and, in the case of Anansi Boys, an extract from American Gods) published by Harper Perennial. The (P.S.) edition of Anansi Boys has a cover that's electric blue and eye-burning yellow, and is unmissable. It's bigger than the "mass-market paperback", printed on better paper, but contains the same novel.

I can't find a good image of it online, so here's the new cover of the P.S. trade paperback of Smoke and Mirrors, which comes out later this week, a vision in purple and green.

Ok, given two pieces of research I just read, I will edit two of my "predictions" from yesterday. Hot: (or really lukewarm) Mobile social networking. Allison and Alan from NGT wrote about this in a Ypulse Guest Post recently. I think 2008 is the... Read the rest of this post

It's funny that the day after AOL's survey on teens and IMing was released, there is a new survey out about how teens are using texting -- and guess what? It's sort of similar, at least in terms of teens texting and IMing more than adults and using... Read the rest of this post

It's funny that the day after AOL's survey on teens and IMing was released, there is a new survey out about how teens are using texting -- and guess what? It's sort of similar, at least in terms of teens texting and IMing more than adults and using... Read the rest of this post

It's funny that the day after AOL's survey on teens and IMing was released, there is a new survey out about how teens are using texting -- and guess what? It's sort of similar, at least in terms of teens texting and IMing more than adults and using... Read the rest of this post

Don't call it a comeback...yet (Firefly Mobile goes after the tween market. Plus what tweens want in the way of toys and tweens most interested in taking virtual courses online, which bodes well for companies like this - thanks Derek!)... Read the rest of this post

The 'Dudes' want Disney Mobile subscribers (kajeet offers former Disney Mobile subscribers a special discount) (press release) - Jonas Brothers (attract mobs of tweens to state fairs...Plus everyone wants a piece of the tween music scene like... Read the rest of this post

Lots happening in the mobile space today beginning with MySpace announcing its free (ad supported) mobile service...just what users want -- banner ads on cellphones! I think I'd pay for the subscription version if I wanted to MySpace from my phone... Read the rest of this post

I was reading the Washington Post this weekend (the paper version!) while visiting my little sis here in Virginia and stumbled across this tidbit written by Sam Diaz and reprinted from their tech blog: A Disney Mobile "Cell and Tell" survey... Read the rest of this post

Studies like this one from Samsung make me feel old. I got my first cell phone in my mid to late twenties and only recently began texting...my husband...to tell him to pick up half and half or feed the dog. I missed being a single mobile female... Read the rest of this post

"Each new technology becomes a villain when it is first introduced and remains so until the next one comes along, making the old one legitimate. In 1910s for instance, movies were seen as destroying the moral backbone of the future because children... Read the rest of this post

See you there...with paper in hand. Apparently because the hotel designers did not think you'd need internet access, they also did not think you'd need to plug in. I saw absolutely ZERO power outlets, although I didn't case the joint completely.

FYI, and sorry about this... Read the rest of this post

The actual title is "Is the Library Open?" and it promises to be a very engaging session, as always. What I discovered, upon making my arrival in the room, is that there is no Internet. No wired, no wireless, no mobile phone (except Verizon), and no blackberry service. I had small heart palpitations, we checked with the hotel and it's physically not possible. A connection was not to be had, for any price. Wanted to warn you now. Plan to post after...as will I.

So we will be very private at this Symposium! It is being held from 1:30 to 4:30 at the Grand Hyatt Washington, Independence Ballroom A. Which you get to by going to going to the Metro Center stop on the blue line, walking in the front door and taking 3 escalators down. So we are down somewhere close to the earth's mantle or something! But deep enough that wifi signals are not getting through.

The speakers are eager to hear what you have to say, and I know they've got the clickers set up for audience feedback again. Seems like I always leave with my head stuffed full of new ideas!

Safety driving tween mobile adoption (according to Jupiter Research - let the tethering begin [early]!) (WebProNews) - Decoding the Amp'd bankruptcy (BizWeek has a pretty good analysis of what it all means for the MVNO [Mobile Virtual Network... Read the rest of this post