The current Chronicle Review has an interesting article by Cathy Davidson entitled "We Can't Ignore the Influence of Digital Technologies" (that is unfortunately not available, even with a direct permalink, without logging onto their site with an account). While it discusses the Middlebury College History Department banning Wikipedia, her article begins with a very interesting critical analysis of the language used l, so I am quoting the very first paragraph:

When I read the other day that the history department at Middlebury College had "banned Wikipedia," I immediately wrote to the college's president, Ronald D. Kibitz, to express my concern that such a decision would lead to a national trend, one that would not be good for higher education. "Banning" has connotations of evil or heresy. Is Wikipedia really that bad?

I think that is quite interesting — the use of the term "banning" as being equivalent with being "evil." How that sounds like the common approach to anything new, even ironically for an institute of higher education. It is often easier to suppress ideas rather than allow them to challenge us. As I am slowly becoming more liberal in my thinking, I still know that having my ideas challenged tends to make me defensive. What can challenge ideas more than an encyclopedia for and by the masses? I wonder if (when?) Wikipedia itself will eventually become more conservative in protecting its own way of approaching knowledge.

I wonder if what goes around, comes around as liberal and openness lead to power and the desire to conserve it?

I am amazed with Google's speed. Just tonight, I posted what was expected to be my final post of the day, after which I decided to look at the remainder of my newsfeeds that I follow with FeedDemon (though not by using Lee Lefever's method tonight), and what did I find in my Google keyword search that FeedDemon tracks for me?

Yes, my own post. I posted about my changing interest in what I post, and made reference to a qualitative methodology of which I am particularly interested, autoethnography.

Movable Type, which I use, pings Google with my new post when it is published. Google then indexed it and my own Google keyword search with my newsreader found it. All within 2 minutes. Yes, 2 minutes. Do the calulations since the time is captured in both places. I am wondering if we have our own keyword searches, perhaps with our own names or our organization's names or anything else we want to track, then within a very short time of posting, Google can tell us what has happened. Google keyword searches that can be followed with FeedDemon makes a powerful eyes and ears on the processing and indexing of information. Hmmm, so who is watching the watcher?

I am not sure if this is always so fast, but it certainly was on a snowy March night here in NYC.

Today is March 15, the Ides of March. On this day in 44 BCE Julius Caesar was killed by his friends and colleagues.

I think about this day every year as filled with good lessons to remember. No, I do not have a near-endless amount of hubris (I hope), nor did I begin a war that resulted in my gaining absolute power as a dictator, but it is a time to remember that we aren't always aware of forces and factors outside ourselves, especially when preoccupied on our work at hand or on our goals. Caesar was indeed fondly remembered, since two years after his death, far from again having restored democracy in Rome, he was proclaimed as one of the gods.

Not bad for being remembered after death. I think I prefer to be remembered more in life, however. So, perhaps in our times, it is better to think of today as the Ideas of March.

So, it appears the pope is ordering Catholic politicians how to vote.

Reuters recounts how the pope spoke about the moral duty of these people (yes, he speaks of politicians as moral), to support the Catholic Church's opposition to gay marriage as "non-negotiable."

Hmm, the pope ordering politicians how to vote? This recalls the American fears that John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic U.S. President, would take his marching and voting orders from Rome. President Kennedy clearly stated he would not do this. It seems that the current pope wants to return to an earlier time when the church dictated global political policy. How else can the statement "non-negotiable" be understood? Wow, what a way to try to maintain the last grip of power over people–by refusing to even discuss an issue. It may be easy for an older man of 79 to demand something and expect others to follow, especially coming from a traditional culture of obeying the orders of your elders. I can only imagine him jumping up and down yelling about it, too!

So, it seems there is a lot of discussion about Twitter. I blogged about it a few days ago, and even mused about John Edwards who appears to be using it. Beth Kanter, one of my favorite bloggers within the education and training spaces, summarized it nicely yesterday, especially in light of all the Twitter chat that seems to be spinning around SXSW (which I am missing having to, yes, work).

While I have not yet been daring enough to try Twitter on my cell due to my 1000 texts/month and how not everybody has the energy and unlimited tech budget of Robert Scoble (another of my favorites to read!), I am still intrigued by this application. Somehow, I like knowing, a la 6 Degrees, that even now as I write this after midnight in NYC with a list of to-dos still clogging my Outlook, I can look at Twitter and see what Beth or Nancy or Betsy or Robin or Kristie or Lee have been up to, all without their knowing I am thinking about them now. This is not at all lonely; rather, I find it rather empowering to know that I am closer than ever to colleagues around the world in real-time without disturbing or interrupting their own loves. What a way to give voice to one another.

By the way, I just noticed the nifty RSS feed on the Twitter blog (and found Cole's blog in the process). No end to the discoveries, which is good for those of us who are restless . . .

I started using Twitter, and find it full of possibilities. This is a social media community site where the simple question: "What are you doing?" is given 160 characters (get it? 160 is the texting limit) that in turn sends the comment to anybody entered as a "friend" or "follower." Claimed as a time-waster by some, I have not decided yet, but am intrigued with the idea. BTW, direct texts can be sent to "friends" using the site as well. I have this listed on my site as well to try it out.

I wonder what this may mean for access to information. Isn't knowledge power?

While I was in Indianapolis for AHRD, I snuck away for an afternoon and visited the Eiteljorg Museum, which contains art of American Indians and Western Art. What a great collection! I uploaded the pictures I took there on Flickr, including:

I keep thinking about JetBlue's recent fiasco with their flight cancellations from the storm five days ago. I have only flown JetBlue once, and while it was ok, I have never been a fan of the airline since I am not fond of their corporate workplace model that promotes an almost fanatic (i.e., blind) loyalty the employees have. I wonder if that clouded management's preparations for storms and other unforeseen issues? Who will suffer with the hundreds of canceled flights, the losses in public approval and goodwill, and the damaged customer loyalty? Management? Senior management? Investors?

While the lack of planning was probably related to costs savings demanded by senior management (a la Wal-Mart), somebody down the line will end up paying for it. If revenues dip and those who fly the airline become disenchanted, then layoffs are always a possibility (though I am only speculating), and it will be the very loyal workers who will see their employer is just like many others–cut costs however and whenever possible that always results in cutting the loyal laborers themselves.

This article from the BBC, Setback for Church conservatives, chronicles the turmoil in the Anglican (Episcopal in the US) community over its stance on homosexuality. The Anglican communion is a bit more progessive than their Catholic counterparts regarding being gay (I speak from having studied and completed a graduate degree in dogmatic and systematic theology from a conservative Catholic lay institute attached to a seminary), but I can't help but think of the early Christian Tertullian, who (around the year 200) wrote:

'See how [these Christians] love one another.'

Yes, they love one another so much they are ready to break their church apart because of a gay bishop. I did not know he was such a threatening person, but this must truly be the largest problem facing humanity now, or at least facing the Anglicans. Thankfully war, terrorism, global warming, and the perrenial poverty and hunger are somehow manageable situations. After all, Catholicism has held that such homosexuality is an intrinsic disorder, and look how well they are doing? The Catholic population is growing because it is growing older, while the Anglicans are starting to sniff a more inclusive rather than exclusive religious practice. Perhaps the WWJD method may be interesting to think of here, but I digress. I wonder who will attract a larger audience?