some changes, briefly

If you haven't been by the blog lately, surf by and check out the changes, mostly updating and rearranging sidebar gadgets. I added Academic Labor to the sidebar. But there are other changes...

From the archives: Civility, Freedom of Speech & #AcademicFreedom, 2014

…Introducing what may or may not become a regular feature. Call it an experiment to jump start stalled blogging with Diigo's "blog this" feature and publish/distribute Precarity Network collections. This article is just as timely now as when it appeared in 2014 ~ perhaps even more so.

Excerpts and notes on Civility, Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom ~ by Philip A. Pecorino, Ph.D. Queensborough Community College, CUNY, October, 2014

tags: free-speech academic-freedom CUNY civility civil-liberties #PFR

Across the nation the calls for greater “civility” in public discourse have been increasing and along with them there are now the voices of concern over the consequences of such calls and the use of   such exhortations to chill free speech.  In the academy there is concern for academic freedom.

#LaborDay special from the @precariousfac archives: "Salt of the Earth" (1954) + links

Salt of the Earth (1954) is an American drama film written by MichaelWilson, directed by Herbert J. Biberman, and produced by Paul Jarrico. All had been blacklisted by the Hollywood establishment due to their alleged involvement in communist politics. (Image: Library of Congress. March 14, 1954 premier at the only theater in the the city that would show it)

The film is one of the first pictures to advance the feminist social and political point of view. Its plot centers on a long and difficult strike, based on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in Grant County, New Mexico. In the film, the company is identified as "Delaware Zinc," and the setting is "Zinctown, New Mexico." The film shows how the miners, the company, and the police react during the strike. In neorealist style, the producers and director used actual miners and their families as actors in the film. The film was called subversive and blacklisted because the International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers sponsored it and many blacklisted Hollywood professionals helped produce it.

never mind Carmen SanDiego, where in the #adjunct/iverse is the #precariousfaculty blog?

…but the hat, red trench coat and high boots are snazzy. As for the blog, with 4 posts in January, missed all of February and today being March 25, even I ask if there is one. There's a tunc et nunquam feel about it all and with it, temptation to throw caution to the winds.

#adjunct/ion series & other #PFNetwork collections + to #NAWD2 or not

…that's the short version for readers in a hurry. There's more but that hits the main points. I bolded them for your skimming convenience.

Tom Cunniff's Ultimate Social Media Diagram, 2008

For #adjunction series and other (but not all) "informationist" projects, I collect adjunct links that I bundle as an #adjunction series. Each bundle has a web page with a permalink. Here's the most recent link bundle page in the series: #adjunction Jan2016 #4, 17 links

Informationist projects: throughout 2015 I've been referring to this blog and the associated network as an independent information network. That is my focus...among other intentions.

#MLKDay2016 Digital #SocialJustice Memorial

…the day online, in memorable social media memes, the dominant genre, articles, blog posts and videos. Tomorrow, let's all not go back to business as usual. Pay extra attention to the quotes and articles that make you uncomfortable or go against the grain of your personal ideology or world view. As Paul Thomas writes, 

One commitment is to resist the whitewashing of Martin Luther King Jr. as a passive radical. So here, I offer some readings, varied and important, but pathways to honoring the radical MLK and to resisting the lingering dream deferred.

This meme is a favorite because it resonates personally and on many levels:

…and many thoughtful articles and blog posts 

#mla16 it's that time of year again

… just a short, preliminary post with suggestions for following from afar, mostly to get one out before the academic boycott sessions #s119 ("Boycotting Israeli Academic Institutions") and #s148 ("The Academic Boycott: Taking Sides") start. 

Here's an online reading list to fill in any academic boycott informarion gaps you may have. If you think academia, the MLA and professional associations should be actively support social justice and be involved in movements, then you should follow and speak up in this discussion. 

2015 in Review: Beyond the Ivory Silo™

 …in links and lists, leaning to education, social justice and technology but not exclusively so. If you have a 2015 list or year in review post to add, post your (non-spam) link plus brief description in comments.  

This post is not about adjunct issues per se. Consider it context -- and a harbinger of posts beyond the Ivory Silo™. Mainstream media, although present, does not dominate. A 2016 trends and intentions post will follow, on this blog... or another

 Reasons to Celebrate: Key Progressive Gains in 2015 | Common Dreams | Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community

 Gene V Glass: Education in Two Worlds: Public Education 2015: The Year in Review

 2015 Year in Review: Grassroots Resistance Points the Way Forward | Portside

 2015: A Year in Review | The Baffler