Dan's blog

Probably not the first or last, but an insight/researchy conclusion gleaned from the PIT Journal project: knowing how to conduct peer reviews does not come naturally or easily for readers. The first few days after closing the submission process a good deal of activity has gone toward strengthening the ability to review.

A message sent to participants, handouts, and a video all speak to the conclusion that the population of PIT participants and the process of developing the submissions benefit from support for developing reviews.

One of those obvious conclusions, surely, but of note nonetheless.

Publication decisions should be based not only on the quality of a submission but also on the quality of one's participation in the community of writers.

This is on one of my son's mix CDs left in the car. I like the way the folksy fiddle flow gives way to the drum and bass and then it all flows together. The video also tells a nice story.

 When watching The Searchers the other day I noticed something odd about one of the figures in the shot. Are those plastic sunglasses? Hmmm. Must be something to say about historical representation, revisioning, intertexuality. And it does look mighty bright.

We don't begin accepting submissions for two weeks, but the Web site is up and the wind is in our sails for the People, Ideas, and Things Journal. I'll be posting in various places over the next few months about the project no doubt. For now, it's nice to know that we have reached take-off velocity.

Idea for developing a design for the journal: identify a theme from among those in the drupal open source community--criteria tagged extendable, standard, sustainable, robust, etc. Recuit two or more people to adapt the design for the journal--image, layout, etc. Post your design. Get votes and feedback. Revise. Become site theme.

Related idea: try to get groups of people involved in every element of the journal's development, bring out their skills and creativity, a renaissance mode that spreads.

Action idea: get down the philosophy. There's the gift culture. Participant status. Education. Breakdown. Education: reading, writing, composing across texts, disciplines, social networks; gift culture: bring one, read one; participant status: if you read something leave a mark, gain recognition through reading and teaching.

Arching idea: learning how to teach something is the best learning.

Gizmodo reports on a new book about the cross over artistry of Norman Rockwell. There are some great images depicting Rockwell's use of photographs as raw materials for his iconic paintings, like this one.

Via dayblend.

Personal Democracy Forum reports on the white house Web site switching to drupal Glad to know that the drupal movement is rolling right along. I think this is a big boost to the open source movement, especially to hybrid models featuring people linking their work activities to open source. The most obvious links are those economic ones between outfits like acquia and the open source community, but the links also seem to be along the lines of professional ethos and open source sharing.

via Liz Losh

A piece for all of those worried about Web surfing and brain rot. Not much surprising here to my mind, but still it's always good to have evidence to use when needed.