Author Archives: Robert Basil

Newspaper names: a charming taxonomy

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Robert Basil

We are fans of Jay Rosen here at No Contest.

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Twitter alternatives

Posted on July 4, 2023 by Robert Basil

This is a clear picture from The Evening Standard. I think that, looking back, Twitter will be regarded as an unnecessary calamity rather than as a necessary community.

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Your title is verbose.

Posted on June 24, 2023 by Robert Basil

An example of editing.

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Yelling at your editor

Posted on June 15, 2023 by Robert Basil

In earlier writing here on mentorship, I noted that you do not have to actually like your mentors to have a fruitful relationship with them. In one post, “Mentorship without Friendship,” I wrote: “A mentor sees in her or his … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Copyright laws have always been a real bear

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Robert Basil

Ted Goia’s Substack newsletter is enlightening – with truly startling frequency – about things I probably should have known about already. From yesterday’s post: The most extreme case of music copyright comes from Elizabethan England. Here the Queen gave William … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Rethinking is thinking.

Posted on May 13, 2023 by Robert Basil

That’s my motto as the summer semester starts (orientations today). There will be a million more of these articles:

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

“Prompt Engineering”

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Robert Basil

Even before my friend Chet fully explained to me what this term meant, I was on board with it. From Forbes the other day: The democratization of Artificial Intelligence and, specifically, the generative models boom seems to have changed everything. … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Be fair and be good to the artists

Posted on May 7, 2023 by Robert Basil

Artist and writer Molly Crabapple, whose work I have long admired, has written an open letter “imploring publishers to restrict their use of A.I.-generated illustrations.” I signed. Since the earliest days of print journalism, illustration has been used to elucidate … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Everything will be suspicious

Posted on April 15, 2023 by Robert Basil

Longtime NoContest.ca friend Chet Wisniewski has “Three Cybercrime Predictions in the Age of ChatGPT.” I don’t know anyone who writes more clearly and helpfully on these things. Organizations (like my own) have trained their employees to recognize phishing and other … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged | Leave a comment

Best answer yet to that question

Posted on April 8, 2023 by Robert Basil

By rocker Susanna Hoffs: It’s worth it for me to remember that, because I am a bit of a snob formalist when it comes to evaluating published writing (prose or verse). The NYTimes “By the Book” series is always fun, … Continue reading →

Posted in Robert's posts | Tagged , , | Leave a comment