Author Archives: Robert Basil
Get smart
To welcome humbling moments is part of good mental hygiene. There is, at any rate, no way around these experiences when you teach social and digital media to university students. On that note: Here is another amazing Overdrive Interactive graphic; … Continue reading
The Melville School of Business
My academic neighbourhood at Kwantlen Polytechnic University has a new name, after philanthropists George and Sylvia Melville gifted $8 million to the school. I am so pleased, particularly with the initiatives this gift will fund. George Melville, cofounder of Boston … Continue reading
Smart luck
Teena Seelig, a professor in management science and engineering at Stanford, has been studying “luck” for two decades, according to Diana Aguilera’s article in Stanford Magazine. The professor provides some superb, lucid recommendations. My favourite: Show Appreciation. “When someone does … Continue reading
Gratitude
I have been enjoying getting to know the work of translator/poet/essayist Michael Hoffman. Without an active sense of mischief, he says, translators can easily become bitter people. “Nobody sees what you are doing, and the minute you do something, people … Continue reading
Pacing yourself
Even before my senescence began blooming, I enjoyed reading obituaries. The well-written ones are edifying distillations of character and action; their omissions are bolder than doomsday. James McMeel cofounded the Universal Press Syndicate, which distributed Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” and the … Continue reading
“immortal words”
Allen Ginsberg “finally sat on the edge of the couch and said, ‘Well, Dr [William Carlos] Williams, here we are [Jack Kerouac, Peter Orlovsky, Gregory Corso, and AG], all assembled. What immortal words do you have for us?’ So he … Continue reading
The social media landscapes
My favourite class to teach, back in the day, was an advanced digital media class at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. No other class I’ve ever taught required such continual professional development, though, and it would take me many months of preparation … Continue reading
How to write
I love my old friend Jonathan Mayhew’s prose. His blog, Stupid Motivational Tricks (Scholarly Writing and How to Get it Done), is often very charming (and it is always illuminating). Read this bit on the use of “scare quotes.” The … Continue reading
Feedback loops
The original focus of University of Washington’s Professor Kate Starbird’s research was Crisis Informatics, “the study of how information-communication technologies are used during crisis events, including natural disasters (like earthquakes and hurricanes) and man-made disasters (such as shooting events and … Continue reading
Our Work Is Everywhere
Portland, Oregon artist Syan Rose’s book ‘Our Work is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer & Trans Resistance,’ is breath-taking and profound. I went through it slowly over the course of three days, letting these voices and insights try … Continue reading
