In 2016, we are well past the time when cord-cutting and streaming entered the mainstream. Why, then, is streaming that replicates TV still such a tough nut to crack?
Month: October 2016
Targeted ads are not just “creepy”
Reporting today from ProPublica shows that Facebook allows buyers of demographically targeted ads to exclude users based on race. Oops, sorry, that’s “ethnic affinity”, which is totally a different thing:
OER event at PC, Nov. 1st
Next Tuesday Nov. 1st I’m helping to facilitate a session on open educational resources for the Center for Teaching Excellence here at Providence College. I’ll be talking about my experience adopting an open textbook this semester and some of the evidence from the economics literature on open ed and open access infrastructure. Here’s a teaser: across my sections of Principles of Microeconomics this semester I have 81 students. Assigning an open textbook instead of the industry standard will save my students a total of almost $30,000! That seems like a good deal to me!
My colleagues Andria Tieman and Hailie Posey will be talking about what OER means and how to find and adopt resources. They are the ones who actually know a lot about this stuff! The CTE announcement is below. If you’re around, consider joining us!
History repeating, volume ∞
Right now I’m reading Imbeciles: The Supreme Court, American Eugenics, and the Sterilization of Carrie Buck by Adam Cohen. It’s about Buck v. Bell, the 1927 Supreme Court decision on forced sterilization, and the shocking breadth of the surrounding eugenics movement. It’s leaving me frequently speechless and the writing is great. I recommend it.
The Toaster Project to introduce producer theory
Today we started producer theory in my Principles of Micro class and we watched Thomas Thwaites’ talk on his Toaster Project. I think it’s a good way in to talk about inputs, technology, scale, trade, and so on. So sharing it here in case it’s useful to anyone.
Fields versus things
I’m thinking about a couple of loose ends from this weekend’s post about the graduate program in economics. I suggested a set of first year courses to try to separate economic ideas and their context, from the modern economic toolbox:
Rethinking the first year graduate economics program
The job market for economists is revving up again, and I’m thinking about the gauntlet of graduate education that the rookie economists have just survived to get to this point. I want to raise a few questions—typical academic navel-gazing about “the state of the field”. Basically my message is that I think the time has come to retire and replace the first year graduate economics “canon”. Hopefully I can justify myself with some (leading) questions.
Quasimoto – Bartender Say
From the album The Further Adventures of Lord Quas (2005).
Economic methodology, internationalization, and writing style
This one’s really for the economists. Just wanted to record some jumbled thoughts while I work my way through The Nobel Factor by Avner Offer and Gabriel Söderberg. It’s about the relationship between economic methodology and the sociology and political context of the discipline, through the lens of the economics Nobel.
Business ethics vs. political ethics
I think it’s fair to say that the GOP presidential nominee has said, oh, a few things that would have sunk the candidacy of a politician.
Jim Campbell 