Links of the week – let there be lights edition
As you may have noticed in my last ‘links of the week’ post I promised a busy week on the site, and yet, there were only two posts last week. What gives? As it turns out, it’s extremely difficult to blog without power or an internet connection.
I’m currently working as an English teacher at an elementary school in Korea. During the summer break the school has been undergoing some construction. My office and classroom are in a separate building called the ‘English village’ located next to the main school. When I came into work after my summer vacation on Thursday, I was pleased to discover that my building didn’t have power. Since my classes didn’t resume until Monday, I had two full days with nothing to do but sit in my darkened office.
Now I know what you’re thinking – Ryan, why didn’t you just go home? Generally speaking, Korea has a culture of going to work regardless of extenuating circumstances. Sick? Go to work. Death in the family? Go to work. No classes to teach and no power? Sit in your office until 5 pm.
But now after a dark morning, I have power once again and ivrytwr will finally resume its regularly scheduled programming. Let’s kick off this return to normality with another edition of links of the week.
1. Promoting yourself & your research. Part 1: Creating a personal website – It’s a complicated digital world out there, so I love nothing more than a great and easy to follow guide to navigating the often murky online waters. This is yet another fantastic post from Jo Hawkins (the academic, not the boxer) and her blog, History Punk. As someone who recently went through the process of creating a personal academic website, I appreciate the insight in this post. It’s a fantastic read and I’m sure it will be valuable to even seasoned bloggers (and I’m not just praising it because I’m mentioned in it).
2. How to make a podcast – Continuing on the theme of ‘how to,’ here’s an informative post about how to make a podcast. As you may have noticed, the ivrytwr podcast has stalled out. Given the relative scarcity of English-speakers in my life these days, I’ve quickly exhausted my list of friends and family who both want to be on a podcast and want to stay up to strange hours recording one over Skype. When I return to Canada this winter look for a new and improved ivrytwr podcast.
3. How to not do things with words – Often knowing how not to do something is as important as knowing how to do something. This post on the blog The Stone and the Shell grapples with some of the methodological challenges posed by Google’s Ngram Viewer.
4. 3 tips for science communications - A good list of tips for crafting engaging writing about science. The beautiful part of this list (with tips like “Story is not a dirty word”) is that the tips are applicable for writing in nearly every discipline.
5. How is the world different because your museum is online? – The final link this week comes from the blog Museum Geek. This post examines some metrics that should be used to measure meaningful digital success for museums and online collections. Despite everything in our society moving online, we’ve yet to come up with meaningful ways to measure online success. Museum Geek asks three questions which could help individuals or institutions assess how successful their online efforts truly are.
After two slow weeks, I can finally promise a busy week on ivrytwr. Tomorrow look for a post examining how a number of top universities are using twitter and assessing their success. This Friday will also begin ivrytwr’s Summer Road-Trip 2012. Each Friday for the next five weeks a next video will be posted exploring the many cultural heritage sites of Korea. Look for a post with more information later in the week.
As always I welcome your thoughts, comments, and contributions. Please feel free to drop me a line. Have a great week.
-Ryan Hunt (@Ryan__Hunt)
