My colleague Katie Shrieves passed along this link to a comparison of the technologies supporting the Web sites of the two presidential candidates. The analysis sheds some light on directions for Web development and the tech leanings of the two camps, but is also a humorous read for Webheads.

Any mashup fan would be remiss without mentioning the death of Don LaFontaine. Just that name suggests a kind of smooth talk that goes a long way toward making the movie trailer its own kind of composition. As homage, I embed Five Guys in a Limo and Voice Talkers. Voice Talkers is my favorite:

This NY Times piece on the pre-announcement editing of Sarah Palin's Wikipedia entry sheds light on the way Wikipedia functions in the larger media ecology, in large part based on its open structure and currency. That updates in the wee hours prior to a candidacy announcement might be the efforts of an insider comes as little surprise. But the way that such updates morph the site into a kind of engine for dissemination and creation of news shows that the combination of at-large editing and instant updating amplifies information sharing power enough that people need to adjust their expectations about where to find (and how to make) the news. As the Times reports, the Washington Post called it "another example of Wikipedia’s mysterious ability to predict about-to-break news, if we only knew to look there."

How crazy is it that the new semester is starting and I haven't even posted anything reflecting (on) my summer teaching. Without further ado, I give you YouTube trailer film reviews by Susie Warden and Hannah Choe

and the mashup below by Jivan Achreja

Transforming the Teaching of Literature from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.

I decided to do my Computers and Writing presentation this year as a Sophie book. Sophie worked well at bringing together a number of videos and images and also at allowing me to weave in snippets of text. Having the ability to use timelines to sequence the pieces was also very helpful. The Sophie book is currently over 100mb, so I'm not linking it here. Instead, I have just done a screen recording of the project. In addition to this one from vimeo, there is a 30.8 megabyte QuickTime file.

My first thought after landing here was, what a great Web site. Who would put so many resources into making something so kitschy? I still just had a great time poking around, but after eventually jumping to the corporate sponsor, I'm thinking, what a slick example of contemporary advertising--slick in both a good design and a watch your wallet kind of sense.

[via funny pages]

I'm starting to think about the upcoming Computers and Writing presentation. The last time around I wrote prose, which was a nice change of pace from the show and tell routine I've been doing at conferences for the last few years. I'm thinking some combination of reading prose and showing stuff, but haven't arrived at a decision yet. I might just do a video ala 2006 (below)

From the teaching files, an extension of the idea of using found images to create videos, this project rips YouTube videos and compiles them into something new.

Here is a draft of my bit for the panel Jenny Edbuaer Rice, John Biewen, and I will be putting on in New Orleans. The panel is on sound in composition, so it's a bit ironic that the audio quality of this is somewhat dicey, but you do what you can.

Musical Pieces: Readymade Audio Projects and Creativity from Daniel Anderson on Vimeo.

Just mapping out some thoughts about how writing shifts over time. Right now the heart goes where it goes and the mind follows. Who knows where the map will lead. As said in the song vibrating the inner ear hammers even now, "I'm stuck moving."