Given the shift towards public and institutional libraries moving towards the eBook work, this raises some interesting questions.

See Amazon, OverDrive, and Kindle! Oh my! | The Digital Immigrant.

(P.S. Not entirely convinced by Auckland Library’s Overdrive link up in terms of pragmatics – just too fiddly and unfriendly to struggle with.)

Dennis Ritchie, Computing Pioneer, C Creator Dies | Stuff.co.nz.

One of the first computer science books I ever bought was ‘The C Programming Language‘ by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie. (The original, not the ANSI C updated edition). Even now, after multiple culls of books, it’s one book that has so much emotional and nostalgic connection that I still have it (along with Kernighan and Pike’s ‘UNIX Programming Environment‘).

Hat tip to Derek for the cartoon about the always connected life.

See Derek’s Blog » Always connected

Two upcoming events in October related to media, popular culture and religion.
Contemporary Religion and Popular Culture Symposium, Arts, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

21st October, 2011

9am – 6pm
Monash University Caulfield Campus

When Religion Meets New Media: Symposium on Digital Religion at Texas A&M University

6 Oct 2011 at Texas A&M University

Some interesting thoughts from Lynne Baab over at Can a “real” friendship begin online? – Gathering Voices: Faithful Conversations from The Thoughtful Christian.

Her experience resonates with mine where shared (non-physical) context adds depth to the online forms of relationship.

See also: Greenflame · “Friending” as a Spiritual Practice?

I’ve tried reading comics on an iPod. It really didn’t work for me. I’ve tried the browser-based app from Comixology to read comics and that didn’t really work for me either, and neither do CBR/CBZ readers. So I remain with paper issues and trade paperbacks, but an A4 size tablet might do it (and I could afford more comics that way).

Anyway, see The iPad Could Revolutionize the Comic Book Biz — or Destroy It | Magazine.

Will be interested to see how Apple’s enforcement of in-App purchases affects this too.

Josh McDowell vs. Kevin Kelly | Jesus Creed points to these two opinions about the internet and its potential for harm or health respectively.

• In the negative corner: Apologist Josh McDowell: Internet the Greatest Threat to Christians, Christian News
• While in the optimistic corner, Kevin Kelly: Geek Theologian | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

I read Kelly’s blog The Technium from time to time. An interesting mixture of futurism, spirituality, and commentary on technology through an optimistic lens. In a course I teach I get students to read the following and respond in class to it: Kelly, Kevin. “Nerd Theology.” Technology in Society 21, no. 4 (1999): 387-392.

There’s also an interview in “Science and the Spiritual Quest: New Essays by Leading Scientists” (Phillip Clayton, Mark Richardson, Robert J. Russell, Kirk Wegter-McNelly), followed by a similar essay.

Kelly’s ideas on technology as a third-culture are also a good discussion starter. See: Kelly, Kevin. “The Third Culture.” Science 279 (1998): 992-993.

And related to digital life, Paul has some recent thoughts over at:

• fishers, surfers and casters » Coming of age in the digital era
• fishers, surfers and casters » Sherry Turkle has Carr syndrome

And I’ve been concerned with other things over the past year or so, but here’s a couple of transhuman/posthuman links to note:

• Singularity: Kurzweil on 2045, When Humans, Machines Merge – TIME
• Posthumanity stories – io9

Clearing out various links – here are some related to education.

Blog U.: 10 Guidelines for Running Synchronous Web Teaching Sessions – Technology and Learning – Inside Higher Ed

How to add EPUB books to your Kindle, take advantage of Google’s massive free library « Ernesto Burden

Tweeting Students Earn Higher Grades Than Others in Classroom Experiment – Wired Campus – The Chronicle of Higher Education

Derek’s Blog » Planning and assessment….
A link through to a somewhat tongue-in-cheek animation about educational language and those who ‘monitor’ standards.

Digital Media and Learning on Vimeo
Via Confessions of an Aca/Fan: Archives: Digital Media and Learning: New Video Series

Three of the little rubber feet on the bottom of the MacBook Pro gave up the ghost over the past 6 months, making the laptop uneven on a flat surface and potentially able to scratch the new wooden table we have. Replaced them with four 3M Self-Stick Rubber Pads and that seems to be working well. Not only do they provide additional elevation to the laptop allowing some air flow underneath it, but they’re ‘grippy’ enough that they stop the laptop sliding around when seated on a lectern (which used to be a problem when lecturing or preaching with the laptop). Only disadvantage is that if you need to turn the laptop sideways on the table (e.g. to show someone something on the screen) you need to lift and turn, rather than slide and turn.

A couple of pieces about ‘the Cloud’ from this week.

• TidBITS Networking: The Future is Disposable
• fishers, surfers and casters » iCloud musings