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Speaking of open source - I do want to recommend one - the MIT courses by Walter Lewin on beginning physics - three courses, on mechanics, electro- magnetism, and waves. They're free and amazing - I have them downloaded on my Ipod and have gone through the last two, am returning for the first. I've learned a tremendous amount about physics - Lewin is somewhat of a showman but also tough with math and formulas. I've been doing these for the past two months. This is the best thing about the Net at the moment - these courses by critical researchers/theorists. I also took a course on the inflationary universe a while back, also MIT. All of these are video by the way, which makes the formula much easier to follow than, say, with the audio Feymann lectures which are available on cd. - Alan On Thu, 15 Jan 2009, Sue Thomas wrote: > Yet ironically universities are starting to make their own materials open > source - first MIT and now in the UK they are obliged to share grant funded > work in open repositories. But I agree with you about access to journals - > plus they are ludicrously expensive and many unis can't afford the > subscriptions. At DMU certainly don't have access to Muse, for example. > > sue > > -----Original Message----- > From: [log in to unmask] > [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Alan > Sondheim > Sent: 15 January 2009 10:24 > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: [WDL] History of WDL > > I wonder about lists petering out in general; at one point they were > replete with discussion. Cybermind years and years ago became an online > community (a book-length study by Jon Marshall has been published), but > the surface discussion disappeared. Cyberculture was created in relation > to that but discussion petered out there as well. In my area of new media > / cultural politics, o-o is gone, nettime-l is there but the discussion > seems low (it's still the best of these lists), 7-11 is a shell. nn - also > known as Integer or antiorp - used to be a regular denizen of these and > she's disappeared as well. Poetics used to have a lot of wild poetry and > discussion; it's now more academic discussion and the poetry's gone for > the most part. > > In the meantime social networking sites and blogs have obviously increased > but I think the idea of a commons forum has been lost. I've been increas- > ingly frustrated by JSTOR and the like - most of which operate on the > presumption that intellectual thought is exclusive, should be paid for > with a fairly hefty price, and should be difficult if not impossible to > access by the general non-affiliated public. Academia is more and more > exclusionary in this regard, I think. Twice recently I had university > affiliations and the difference was night and day... > > - Alan > > > > On Thu, 15 Jan 2009, Sue Thomas wrote: > >> List members might be interested to know a little more about WDL. The full >> description is as follows: >> >> >> >> The impact of digital technologies on writing and lived experience >> >> WRITING AND THE DIGITAL LIFE explores the impact of digital technologies >> upon writing and lived experience within an interdisciplinary context. We >> talk about the relationship of writing and reading in the context of many >> subjects including 'new and old' media; craft, art, process and practice; >> social networks; cooperation and collaboration; narrative and memory; > human >> computer interaction; imagination; nature; mind; body, and spirit. >> Contributions related to research, writing and teaching in the arts, >> sciences, and humanities are all welcome. >> >> >> >> You can read the archives here >> <http://jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html> >> http://jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html >> >> >> >> I started WDL in February 2005. I had just moved from the trAce Online >> Writing Centre <http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk> >> http://tracearchive.ntu.ac.uk to De Montfort University and everyone was >> asking what I would be doing post-trAce. I wasn't sure myself, so I set up >> WDL to keep the conversation going and find out what people wanted. We > then >> set up a collaborative blog which ran until 2007 >> <http://www.hum.dmu.ac.uk/blogs/wdl/> http://www.hum.dmu.ac.uk/blogs/wdl/ >> Since the WDL blog closed to new entries, the list has continued but has >> been very quiet. Meanwhile, my attention has moved towards research into >> transliteracy, a bold Theory of Everything http://www.transliteracy.com > and >> to developing the Online MA in Creative Writing and New Media with Kate >> Pullinger http://www.creativewritingandnewmedia.com >> >> >> >> I've just checked and the list has 250 subscribers in 18 countries: >> >> >> >> * Country Subscribers >> * ------- ----------- >> * Argentina 1 >> * Australia 8 >> * Brazil 4 >> * Canada 9 >> * Croatia 1 >> * Czech Republic 1 >> * France 1 >> * Greece 1 >> * Ireland 1 >> * Italy 2 >> * Japan 1 >> * Netherlands 2 >> * New Zealand 2 >> * Niue 1 >> * Spain 1 >> * United Kingdom 54 >> * United States 143 >> * Zimbabwe 1 >> * >> * Total number of "concealed" subscribers: 16 >> * Total number of users subscribed to the list: 234 (non-"concealed" >> only) >> * Total number of countries represented: 18 (non-"concealed" >> only) >> * Total number of local host users on the list: 0 (non-"concealed" >> only) >> >> >> >> It's interesting to see WDL come back to life, especially since many > members >> have been on the new media writing scene a long time. I look forward to >> seeing what develops! >> >> >> >> Best >> >> Sue >> >> >> >> >> >> __________ >> >> Sue Thomas >> Professor of New Media, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK >> >> Currently Visiting Scholar, English Dept, University of California Santa >> Barbara >> <http://www.suethomas.net/> http://www.suethomas.net >> >> <mailto:[log in to unmask]> [log in to unmask] >> >> >> >> >> ********** >> * To alter your subscription settings on this list, log on to Subscriber's > Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html >> * To unsubscribe from the list, email [log in to unmask] with a blank > subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF > WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE >> >> > > > > | Alan Sondheim Mail archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ > | To access the Odyssey exhibition The Accidental Artist: > | http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22 > | Webpage (directory) at http://www.alansondheim.org > | [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], tel US 718-813-3285 > > ********** > * To alter your subscription settings on this list, log on to Subscriber's > Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html > * To unsubscribe from the list, email [log in to unmask] with a blank > subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF > WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE > > ********** > * To alter your subscription settings on this list, log on to Subscriber's Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html > * To unsubscribe from the list, email [log in to unmask] with a blank subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE > > | Alan Sondheim Mail archive: http://sondheim.rupamsunyata.org/ | To access the Odyssey exhibition The Accidental Artist: | http://slurl.com/secondlife/Odyssey/48/12/22 | Webpage (directory) at http://www.alansondheim.org | [log in to unmask], [log in to unmask], tel US 718-813-3285 ********** * To alter your subscription settings on this list, log on to Subscriber's Corner at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/writing-and-the-digital-life.html * To unsubscribe from the list, email [log in to unmask] with a blank subject line and the following text in the body of the message: SIGNOFF WRITING-AND-THE-DIGITAL-LIFE