Digital Bibliography

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.

Mmmm. My first foray into truly mobile computing. Writing this post as I ride shotgun in a little Honda fit on I-94 through southern Minnesota to this year’s RSA Conference in Minneapolis.

I’m sort of returning to my home region. I grew up in a small town on the North Dakota/Minnesota border: Wahpeton/Breckenridge. A pretty great place to be from, actually. About 45 miles south of Fargo/Moorhead. I’m not exactly feeling nostalgic. But maybe a little. Minneapolis was where we would go to watch concerts (Toad the Wet Sprocket, Sheryl Crow, Hootie and the Blowfish… Wow, that’s embarrassing), see decent art (the Walker Art Gallery and the Minneapolis Institute of Art are both pretty amazing), and watch the Twins and Vikings play (only once each!).

But Minneapolis/St. Paul holds another place in my heart. Read the rest of this entry »

Um…. So… I bought an iPad. Yep. Some of you might remember that at one point I had high hopes for the iPad, though only fueled by pre-announcement, speculative fantasy. And you might or might not have read my angry rant about all the ways the iPad fell short of what I had hoped it would be. And now, to complete my solipsistic little trilogy, let me explain to you why I drove over to BestBuy and snagged one.

It’s a toy. Techno candy. And I deserve it.

Now the disclaimers. First, apologies to Steve Krause. He’s done such a great job of explaining how he’s worked the iPad into a productive role in his life. His practices and reflections are really quite interesting and convincing. Actually, I’m convinced that I, too, can be productive with the little gadget. And I’ve talked with several other people who also are genuinely exploring the practical aspects of these machines. I applaud them. Sincerely. It’s just not my own primary motivation. Read the rest of this entry »