Every now and then something like this comes along while you’re teaching a course on the same thing. Will be pointing students in the Bible in Popular Culture course over here – The Most Exalted Star Wars Religious Art In The Universe.

The Ministry of Research, Science and Technology have collated the material from their nanotechnology workshop held in Wellington earlier this year. Summary documents, primers and video footage at Nanotech Workshop 2009 – MoRST.

The New Yorker had short article looking at seven fantasy books you might read after finishing off the well-known staples of Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. You can find the list at Seven Essential Fantasy Reads: Going to Second Base: The Book Bench : The New Yorker. (As an aside, I think I’ve read all of these, apart from “The Name of the Wind” which I’ll go an hunt down).

Setting up a ‘definitive’ list of books or an anthology can be a fraught process though. For example, see the recent reaction to ‘The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing Science Fiction’ (see also: Making Lists: Mindblowing SF by Women and People of Color).

Henry Jenkins’ blog has had a number of interesting recent postings related to transmedia storytelling, computer games and various other things:

• Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: Transmedia Storytelling and Entertainment — A Syllabus looks like a course I’d like to take sometime.
• Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: District 9 (Part One): Can a Bench Be a Transmedia Extension?
• Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: From Cinema to Games: Some Fascinating Data
• Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: Hightlights from My Conversation With J. Michael Straczynski

A couple of interesting links in the Washington Post relating to the ‘Religion’ field in Facebook profiles. See Facebook’s Religion Question Prompts Soul-Searching – washingtonpost.com and Facing Their Faith – washingtonpost.com.

Related link: In Google we trust: our new faith | Stuff.co.nz

A few useful links related to teaching and learning:

• 50 Useful Mind-Mapping Tools for College Students | AssociateDegree.org
• Derek points to this useful looking resource: Edutopia | 10 tips for teaching with new media.
• Akma » Trumpeting the Good – on various helpful biblical web sites for students
• CreateDebate – which allows you to create an online debating environment. (Derek’s sample debate here: Blended, virtual and mobile learning should replace face-to-face instruction)

This looks interesting. Could be fun for the school holidays. I’m sure there used to be a kit you could buy in toy shops years ago that allowed you to do something similar.

See Make a Super Ball – Wired How-To Wiki

I was saddened to read recently of the passing of biblical scholar Graham Stanton. On one of his visits to NZ a while back he took time to answer questions from a number of us aspiring academics as we began our postgrad journey into theology. It was sage advice and I hope I can offer similar comments to others starting out later on in my career.

See Graham Stanton | Theologian | Obituary | World news | The Guardian.

A colleague of mine, Nasili Vaka’uta, is involved in organising the following event this week. Might be of interest to people out there.

Talanoa Oceania 2009
10 September 2009 to 12 September 2009
9.30am

Venue: Fale Pasifika complex, Centre for Pacific Studies, 20 Wynyard Street, The University of Auckland
Contact: For further information please contact Dr Nasili Vaka’uta, email n.vakauta@auckland.ac.nz
Website: sites.google.com/a/nomoa.com/talanoa/registration

Talanoa Oceania 2009 will provide opportunities for presentations on three significant island concepts:

• Lotu
• Tabu
• Tikanga

These concepts have multiple meanings in the various languages of the islands of Oceania.

Thursday 10 September, 9.30am – 5.30pm
Friday 11 September, 9.30am – 5.30pm
Saturday 12 September, 9.30am – 4.30pm.

Please register at: http://sites.google.com/a/nomoa.com/talanoa/registration  

You can download the PDF of the flyer here.

Supported by the School of Theology, Centre for Pacific Studies at the University of Auckland and Trinity Methodist Theological College.

A link sent to me by a colleague in architecture points to an excellent news resource for all things virtual. See DIP’s Dispatches from the Imagination Age.