Preparations for the 11th Annual Faculty Academy continue, and yesterday another milestone was reached when Jon Udell sent us the abstract for his keynote address. Although you can find it on the Faculty Academy website, it’s worth quoting here in full, as a reminder of how vital Jon’s work is to all of us in higher education:
When Merriam-Webster identified “blog” as one of the words looked up most often in 2004, its definition was: “a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections, comments and often hyperlinks.” That’s true, but says nothing about the network in which the blog participates. Readers and writers will want to understand, and apply, the dynamic principles that govern this evolving network. Everything we (should have) learned from “The Elements of Style” remains valid, but there are radical new possibilities that never would have occurred to Strunk and White. I’ll present and discuss examples from both realms.
I’ll also illustrate and discuss the role of so-called new media. These are, in fact, old media. Our ancient modes of storytelling were painting, song, oratory, and drama. Print was the innovation. Now that we can project the spoken word and moving pictures online, we’re challenged to master a range of technological skills. As we do so, let’s embrace the opportunity to reconnect with our cultural roots.
NB: in addition to his dynamite topic(s), Jon has also carefully crafted the abstract with his audience in view. In a return email I accused him of being an English professor in disguise (talk about high crimes and misdemeanors), or at the very least a college president.
The excitement builds, and the countdown to FA 11 continues. Turn it up to 11!
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