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One might think of classicists as the most tradition-bound of humanist scholars, but in fact they were the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of computing and digital technology in the humanities. Today even classicists who do not work on digital projects use digital projects as tools every day. One reason for this is the large, but defined corpus of classical texts at the field’s core.

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There has been much recent talk about a possible robot apocalypse. One person who is highly skeptical about this possibility is philosopher John Searle. In a 2014 essay, he argues that "the prospect of superintelligent computers rising up and killing us, all by themselves, is not a real danger".

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Can a robot be conscious? I will try to discuss this without getting bogged down in the rather thorny issue of what consciousness –– really is. Instead, let me first address whether robot consciousness is an important topic to think about. At first sight, it may seem unimportant. Robots will affect us only through their outward behavior, which may be more or less along the lines of what we tend to think of as coming along with consciousness, but given this behavior, its consequences to us are not affected by whether or not it really is accompanied by consciousness.

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There is a widely held conception that progress in science and technology is our salvation, and the more of it, the better. This is the default assumption not only among the general public, but also in the research community including university administration and research funding agencies, all the way up to government ministries. I believe the assumption to be wrong, and very dangerous.

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"It's not the strongest nor most intelligent that survives; the most adaptable to change wins." While Charles Darwin wasn't thinking of marketing in the digital age when he said these words, they couldn't be more appropriate to the quick and ever-changing climate of online marketing. I'm a writer as well as an online marketer and writing is an evergreen topic. There are steadfast rules that

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In 2010, Aaron Swartz, a 26-year-old computer programmer and founder of Reddit, downloaded thousands of scholarly articles from the online journal archive JSTOR. He had legal access to the database through his research fellowship at Harvard University; he also, however, had a history of dramatic activism against pay-for-content online services, having previously downloaded and released roughly 100,000,000 documents from the PACER (Public Access to Court Electronic Records) database, which charges eight cents per page to access public files. Given his status as a prominent “hacktivist” and the sheer quantity of files involved, law enforcement agents concluded that Swartz planned to distribute the cache of articles and indicted him on multiple felony counts carrying a possible sentence of $1 million in fines and 35 years in prison.

Swartz was slated to go to trial this year but committed suicide in early January, prompting a public outcry against the prosecution in his case. Swartz was a prominent voice in the heated debate surrounding modern copyright law and public access and use (see his 2008 “Guerrilla Open Access Manifesto”). New York’s current issue contains a great feature from Wesley Yang discussing Swartz’s activism, his life, and the controversy in which he was embroiled.

In the ongoing debate over Swartz’s prosecution, we’ve pulled together a brief reading list on the issues surrounding American copyright in the digital age from OUP’s stable:

Copyright’s Paradox by Neil Weinstock Netanel

Netanel weighs current IP law against the basic right of freedom of speech. Like Swartz, he finds it unacceptably constricting.

The Oxford Introductions to U.S. Law: Intellectual Property by Dan Hunter

A concise overview of the current state and history of IP law in America from a prominent New York University IP expert.

Copyright and Mass Digitization by Maurizio Borghi and Stavroula Karapapa

Two UK scholars discuss “whether mass digitisation is consistent with existing copyright principles.”

How to Fix Copyright by William Patry

A Senior Copyright Counsel at Google takes a look at the changing economic realities of the globalizing, digitizing world and concludes that our government must “remake our copyright laws to fit our times.”

Democracy of Sound by Alex Sayf Cummings

An overview of music piracy stretching back to the advent of recorded sound. The RIAA made headlines throughout the last decade by litigating against users who shared music online, but musicians, record companies, songwriters, and fans were navigating this territory for nearly a century before the Internet became a factor.

Unfair to Genius: The Strange and Litigious Career of Ira B. Arnstein by Gary Rosen

The story of one early 20^th century musician who spent decades conducting high-profile lawsuits against the leading pop icons of the day. Though he never won a single case, Ira Arnstein managed to have a significant impact on the shape of music copyright through the decisions in his numerous cases.

Without Copyrights: Piracy, Publishing, and the Public Domain by Robert Spoo

Spoo homes in on the contested publication of Ulysses to reveal the impact on copyright of literary modernism (and vice versa). Characters such as Ezra Pound, the infamous publisher Samuel Roth, and of course James Joyce flesh out a revealing story about artists grappling with free speech and authorship.

Oxford University Press is committed to developing outstanding resources to support students, scholars, and practitioners in all areas of the law. Our practitioner programme continues to grow, with key texts in commercial law, arbitration and private international law, plus the innovative new ebook version of Blackstone’s Criminal Practice. We are also delighted to announce the new edition of the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law, one of the most trusted reference resources in international law. In addition to the books you can find on this page, OUP publishes a wide range of law journals and online products.

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By Caitlin Tyler-Richards

In November 2012, a thread appeared on the H-Net Oral history listserv with the enticing subject line “experimental uses of oral history.” Amid assorted student projects and artistic explorations, two projects in particular caught my eye: the VOCES Oral History Project and the Freedom Mosaic. As we work towards our upcoming special issue on Oral History in the Digital Age, I’ve been mulling over oral historians negotiate online spaces, and how the Internet and related advancing technologies can inspire, but also challenge the manner in which they share their scholarship. I believe the VOCES Oral History Project and the Freedom Mosaic offer two distinct paths historians may take in carving out online space, and raise an interesting issue regarding content versus aesthetics.

Based out of the University of Texas at Austin, the VOCES Oral History Project (previously the US Latino & Latina WWII Oral History Project) launched the spring of 1999 in response to the dearth of Latin@s experiences in WWII scholarship. Since its inception, the project has conducted over 500 interviews, which have spawned a variety of media, from mini-documentaries to the play Voices of Valor by James E. Garcia. My personal favorite is the Narratives Newspaper (1999-2004), a bi-annually printed collection of stories written by journalism students, based on interviews conducted with the WWII veterans. Thanks to a grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services, in 2009 VOCES expanded its project to include the Vietnam and Korean Wars — hence the name change.

VOCES does not have the most technologically innovative or visually attractive website; it relies on text and links much more than contemporary web design generally allows. However, it still serves as a strong, online base for the project, allowing the staff to maintain and occasionally expand the project, and facilitates greater access to the public. For instance, VOCES has transferred the Narratives Newspaper stories into an indexed, online archive, one which they continue to populate with new reports featuring personal photos. The website also helps to sustain the project by inviting the public to participate, encouraging them to sign up for VOCES’ volunteer database or conduct their own interviews. They continue to offer a print subscription to a biannual Narratives Newsletter, which speaks to the manner in which they straddle the line between print and digital. It’s understandable given their audience (i.e. war veterans), yet I wonder if it also hinders a full transition into the digital realm.

The second project that intrigued me was the Freedom Mosaic, a collaboration between the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, CNN and the Ford Foundation to share “individual stories that changed history” from major civil and human rights movements. The Freedom Mosaic is a professionally-designed “microsite” that opens with an attractive, interactive interface made up interviewees’ pictures, which viewers can click on to access multimedia profiles of civil and human rights participants. Each profile includes something like a player’s card for the interviewee on the left side of the page — imagine a title like, “Visionary”, a full body picture, an inspiring quote, personal photos, and perhaps a map. On the right side, viewers can click “Play Story” to watch a mini-documentary on the subject, including interview clips. Viewers can also click the tab “More” at the bottom to bring up a brief text biography, additional interviews and interview transcripts.

The Freedom Mosaic is not a standard oral history project. According to Dr. Clifford Kuhn, who served as the consulting historian and interviewer, and introduced the site to H-NetOralHist listserv, “The idea was to develop a dynamic web site that departed from many of the archivally-oriented civil rights-themes web sites, in an attempt to especially appeal to younger users, roughly 15-30 years old.” On one hand, I greatly approve of beautifully designed projects that trick the innocent Internet explorer into learning something — and I think the Freedom Mosaic could succeed. However, I’m bothered by the site’s dearth of… history. Especially when sharing contemporary stories like that of immigration activist Jessica Colotl, I would have liked a bit more background on immigration in the United States than her brief bio provides.

VOCES and the Freedom Mosaic are excellent examples of how historians may establish a space online, amid the cat memes and indie movie blogs, for academic research. While I have my concerns, I believe both sites succeed in fulfilling their projects’ respective goals, whether that be archiving or eye-catching. However, I would ask you, lovely readers: Is there a template between VOCES’ text heavy archive and the Freedom Mosaic’s dazzling pentagons that might better serve in sharing oral history? What would a rubric for “successful oral history sites” look like? Or should every site be tailor fit to each project?

To the comments! The more you share, the better the eventual OHR website will look.

Caitlin Tyler-Richards is the editorial/ media assistant at the Oral History Review. When not sharing profound witticisms at @OralHistReview, Caitlin pursues a PhD in African History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research revolves around the intersection of West African history, literature and identity construction, as well as a fledgling interest in digital humanities. Before coming to Madison, Caitlin worked for the Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice at Georgetown University.

The Oral History Review, published by the Oral History Association, is the U.S. journal of record for the theory and practice of oral history. Its primary mission is to explore the nature and significance of oral history and advance understanding of the field among scholars, educators, practitioners, and the general public. Follow them on Twitter at @oralhistreview and like them on Facebook to preview the latest from the Review, learn about other oral history projects, connect with oral history centers across the world, and discover topics that you may have thought were even remotely connected to the study of oral history. Keep an eye out for upcoming posts on the OUPblog for addendum to past articles, interviews with scholars in oral history and related fields, and fieldnotes on conferences, workshops, etc.

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Howdy, Campers!

Today's poem and writing prompt/Writing Workout is below.

My fellow bloggers have covered the topic of Digital Learning fabulously (scroll below).

Today, I want to list some of the ways I use these new tools...

~ Every day I use an online thesaurus and rhyming dictionary to write my poetry.

~ I decided which version of Ashoken Farewell I wanted to play at a recent tribute to the journalist Daniel Pearl by watching different versions on YouTube; then Freda Sideroff posted a snippet she'd filmed of me and hammer dulcimer player, Phee Sherline at the tribute concert (what goes around comes around!...)



I learned how to pronounce author Jon Scieszka's name (and lots of other authors and illustrators names) by listening here.(hint: it rhymes with the soda, Fresca)

Raise your hand if you get overwhelmed.  Do you?  Whew!  And I thought I was the only one.  Well, JoAnn is right. I just need to try one new thing. And I'm going to change the adjective: try one small thing.

So...here's my poem, based on an old song. But just one verse, not all of them. That's my one small thing!

(listen to the song on this video first, so you know the tune, then read the new words...)

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In response to the celebration of the first Digital Learning Day on February 1, we've been doing a series of posts on how the digital age is affecting us as writers, readers, and teachers. Mary Ann wrote about "learning to love the e-book," not only as an author, but as the mother of a child with dyslexia. Jeanne Marie shared how she's trying to incorporate technology into her lesson plans to appeal to today's "digital natives" (aka our students). Esther blogged about her courage and determination (my words, not hers) in learning new classroom technologies despite her own learning disabilities. And JoAnn shared her approach to facing the deluge of digital-age opportunities: focusing on trying "one new thing" at a time.

I'm intrigued by the unique relationship each of the TeachingAuthors has with computer technology, especially because my own undergraduate degree is in Mathematics and Computer Science. Unfortunately, that education predates personal computers and the widespread use of the Internet. (I know, I'm dating myself here.) However, although the programming languages I studied in school are virtually obsolete (Ever hear of COBOL?), the basic principles I learned back then still come in handy. Plus, I'm not intimidated by having to tweak HTML code once in a while to get around some of Blogger's quirks. :-)

In an interesting bit of Synchronicity, I'm preparing to teach a brand new class this Saturday that is very technology oriented: "Get Started Blogging." Not only is this a new subject for me, but it's also the first time I'll be teaching a class in a computer lab. (And I keep imagining all the things that could go wrong with the computers!) Of course, as always happens when I teach, I'm learning, too. For example, I learned that the word "blog" has it's origin in the word "weblog," which itself was coined back in 1997 by combining the terms web + log. I'm also learning new software. I decided to use Wordpress.com as the blogging platform for the sample blogs my students will be creating, instead of Google Blogger, which is the platform for our TeachingAuthors blog. That way, I can better share what I see as the pros and cons of the two platforms. If any of you have used both, I'd love to know which you prefer and why.

But back to the topic of how the digital age is affecting me, personally:

As a teacher:

• I'm exploring new teaching topics, such as blogging.
• I'm able to share resources easily and in an environmentally-friendly (paperless) way online, via links on this blog (such as the page of links to markets for young writers), on my website (which includes links to resources for writers of all ages), and on the s
  10 Comments on Digital Learning Every Day, last added: 2/25/2012
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  Barbara Younger said, on 2/22/2012 6:48:00 PM
  

  Carmela, My daughter Kath of Katheats.com is a popular food blogger (if you can spare me a motherly boast). I asked her, and she said that Wordpress is much more versatile. She swears by Windows Live Writer as a blogging program. I don't quite get how it interfaces with wordpress, but she says she couldn't live with out it.

  Tarie said, on 2/23/2012 4:11:00 AM
  

  I am teaching a blogging class soon myself. So I was happy to read this post and look forward to posts about your class!

  Carmela Martino said, on 2/23/2012 8:17:00 AM
  

  Thanks for the info, Barbara. I'll have to visit your daughter's blog. Have fun with your class, Tarie. Will you be teaching a specific blogging platform?

  Tarie said, on 2/23/2012 8:19:00 AM
  

  I'm planning on introducing them to several of the platforms. Good luck to me!

  Jeanette W. Stickel said, on 2/23/2012 10:06:00 AM
  

  You mentioned meeting “writers, teachers, librarians, editors, agents, and booksellers” in this digital community. I hope you’ll add one more to your collection – a speech therapist! I’m amazed at how the digital age is increasing the learning opportunities for my students and for myself. Thank you for the ideas and information you’re passing along in this blog.

  Carmela Martino said, on 2/23/2012 3:49:00 PM
  

  Yes, Tarie, good luck to you! My class is only one-day, from 9-3, so I'm showing them only one blogging platform. I'm worried we won't have time to cover everything I want to share. So good luck to me, too.
  And Jeanette, how cool to have a speech therapist in our community. Welcome!

  Linda at teacherdance said, on 2/23/2012 9:44:00 PM
  

  I'm approaching one year blogging and have loved every bit, of stretching my writing challenges, of meeting people all over the world, in teaching, writing and reading, and expanding my tech abilities. I am a lit coach now but taught middle school gifted students at my school. I recently started a small group blogging & we used Edublogger. I learned about it & thought it was great with students. One thing I still read is the blog from that platform. The woman who writes it covers many things applicable to all blogging. I am more and more interested in tech tools & am amazed at how much things have changed. I have a new IPad and have only read a few books on it. I like the other tools and apps better. I liked all the areas you covered in your post. I hope you have fun teaching your blog class.

  Carmela Martino said, on 2/24/2012 1:20:00 PM
  

  Thanks for sharing your experience, Linda. I found a great article on the Edublogger site that I plan to share with my blogging class students: it discusses copyright and fair use issues and links to places where you can find free clipart, images, and photographs:
  http://theedublogger.com/2012/02/09/the-educators-guide-to-copyright-fair-use-and-creative-commons/
  And I know what you mean about reading books on electronic devices. Although my NookColor comes in handy, I still prefer reading paper books. :-)
  Thanks so much for stopping by!

  Linda at teacherdance said, on 2/24/2012 8:34:00 PM
  

  I'm glad you liked the blog; I've read & shared that article too & find other words she writes very useful.
  Thanks for stopping by my 'snowy' blog! I'm sorry to say that I've not noticed your lists at the top of the blog. Yikes & I want students to notice things! But, thank you for pointing it out; I love it, know some but not all. When teachers at our school urge students to send some work, it nearly always is successful in some way. I've had students (middle school 6,7,8) publish several places & one teacher is devoted to the Letters to Lit contest & some students place in some way there each time. I hope you can get your students to risk trying. Nice talking!

  Carmela Martino said, on 2/25/2012 6:44:00 PM
  

  I'm glad you came back to check out the page of markets for young writers, Linda. I'll keep you posted if any of my students submit their work.

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I can't remember the last time I wrote a check. What used to be an everyday occurrence at the grocery store or doctor's office is practically a thing of the past. Now I whip out a debit card for nearly all my financial transactions. I pay bills online. I order walking shoes and reserve hotel rooms and book airplane flights online. And I welcome the change: the transactions are faster, less paper is wasted, I can see right away that something is taken care of and cross it off my list.

Technology surrounds us, helps us, and sometimes overwhelms us. In planning this post on the impact of the digital age on us as writers, readers, teachers, and/or parents, I struggled to find a place to begin. I visited the site for Digital Learning Day, February 1, "a nationwide celebration of innovative teaching and learning through digital media and technology that engages students and provides them with a rich, personalized educational experience." I followed link after link to sites bursting with ideas and plans for enriching students' learning experiences by using new technology in classrooms. (I also read comments from teachers about the availability of that technology in these days of severe budget restrictions, but that's a whole 'nother topic.)

Somewhere I found a link to The National Writing Project's February 2 post, "Digital Learning Day: Celebrating Innovative Teaching Strategies." There I found the advice I needed: try one new thing.

Try one new thing. The age of writing checks to pay for purchases is over; so is the time for using transparency film and overhead projectors for author visits and conference presentations. I made that transition nervously and gladly accepted the convenience, portability, and vividness of PowerPoint presentations. At first, I hauled the transparencies along as backup; eventually, I relaxed and considered the new system reliable enough to let them go.

Now, in addition, I visit with students across the country using Skype, which cuts out travel time and transportation costs. I can even share those PowerPoint presentations without leaving home.

I used to rely more on paper for teaching, too. Now classrooms are equipped with projectors that enable me to share examples from books, handouts, or the World Wide Web. Students can post their assignments online, and we can discuss their work in class without having to print copies for everyone.

Facebook and Twitter were nerve-wracking at first, too, but I came to embrace them both as rich resources for contacts and information I never would have accumulated otherwise. I learned how to send text messages because that's what our kids do, and I wanted to be able to communicate with them. I take pictures with my cell phone camera and send photos to my e-mail account, to friends, and to Facebook. On one particularly brave day, I posted a video of chimney swifts (the subject of a picture book manuscript) on YouTube.

So, yes. We learn. We keep trying one new thing. And then another. Each step forward brings us to a new challenge. What's next? I'm comparing the options for self-publishing a manuscript based on the poetry writing workshops I present in schools, Write A Poem Step by Step. I'm as excited about this new possibility as I am curious about the best way to approach it. But I'm determined to learn. Wish me luck!

Don't forget to enter our contest to win an autographed copy of Barb Rosenstock's new book, The Camping Trip that Changed America. The interview and entry details are here, and the deadline is tomorrow (Saturday, February 1

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That’s how I feel now writing about The Digital Age and how it impacts my teaching and authoring.

For better (mostly), I have indeed entered this Brave New World of ours, one digit at a time, so to speak - first delicately dipping my Big Toe to test the waters, then gingerly tapping my right index finger in search of whatever the machine’s correct key.

And, I’m happy to say (on most d

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