Digital Bibliography

Here’s a video in three sections. In the first, I explain why I like PDFs on the iPad so much and introduce my workflow. In the second part, I explain how Dropbox keeps files sync’d across multiple computers, including the iPad, and how the iPad fits into that work flow. In the third part, I walk through the interface for Dropbox and iAnnotate on the iPad to demonstrate how easy (sorta) it is to use PDFs on the iPad.

Key Words: ipad, pdf, pdfs, dropbox, iannotate, email, tutorial, highlighting, marginalia, notes.

(p.s. Apologies for the screen-capture audio. I had the wrong microphone enabled. It picked up all the wrong acoustics from from desk.)

(extending my last entry… responding to some of Cheryl’s comments on it…)

Cheryl’s right. That I/we (job seekers in R/C) don’t necessarily need a logo. I’m 90% sure that I won’t be using one. But it’s not really about need (that’s another conversation). Rather, it’s about my identity as a scholar in our field. I don’t really have one. Well, okay, I have one, but few people are familiar with it. No complaints or self-deprecating jokes here. Four years ago, I had no idea what Rhet/Comp even was. That’s a long story, but once I got a taste for it, I’ve been going gang busters ever since. But that still doesn’t change my status as a graduate student just trying to get started.

The way I understand how this graduate student-to-assistant-prof things works is like so: Find that I have a love of teaching and/or research related to composition and/or rhetoric. (Go to grad school.) Read extensively in the disciplinary literature. Consider those readings in the context of my own politics, background, and alignments. Follow the focuses emerging from those considerations. Find ways to contribute-to, support, or challenge the conversations that interest me. Figure out the sorts of work those discourses produce (i.e. publications, presentations, community projects, training, archival work, etc.). Figure out how to produce or help to produce those products. Seek out institutions (who are hiring) where I’ll be able to contribute in these ways. Find a way to present the work I’ve done in a way that allows the institution to understand how I can contribute to the work in which they are invested. (Maybe this perception is a bit idealized, but I hope it might at least function as a touchstone for the variations on this structure that other young scholars perceive.)

So why am I obsessing about logos? First, logos are about public identity. And second, I wonder if logos might begin to supplement the traditional work of alphabetic names. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of my digital-scholarly self-improvement program, I’m working on becoming a better photographer. Taking weekly lessons from this website. Not taking it all that seriously. Just working on it when I can. This week’s assignment is to work on low-angle shots. I took these with a Nikon D3000. 50mm/1.4f lens. Not happy with the lighting, but the framing seems okay, and I’m getting a better sense for depth of field. But the depth of field, I guess, can sometimes be too shallow: I ended up focusing on Rilke’s nose instead of his (would-have-been-more-compelling) eyes. Learning, learning. Anyway, here are the pics.

Good looking dog, eh? I just got back from a month-long trip. Boy did I miss him. He’s getting used to me now again. Whew.