tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57412809655786999872024-03-13T15:59:48.197-07:00Civic EngagementThis blog explores civic engagement: academic civic engagement, day-to-day civic engagement, social media civic engagement . . . . You get the idea. The primary author of the blog is Michael Kuhne (with the help of like-minded friends and colleagues).Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.comBlogger44125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-45402484962245296612011-04-09T21:09:00.000-07:002011-04-09T21:09:41.003-07:00A move to WordPressI am no longer blogging here. I have moved the Civic Engagement blog to http://mkcivicengagment.wordpress.com/
I'll keep this blog active as an archive, but I hope that you'll continue to follow the Civic Engagement blog. Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-8076747089541841422011-04-03T10:08:00.000-07:002011-04-03T10:10:11.145-07:00What does Wikipedia have to do with civic engagement?
Google images
Reagle, Joseph Michael, Jr. Good Faith Collaboration: The Culture of Wikipedia. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: The MIT Press, 2010. 173 pages text; 244 pages with endnotes, index.
Joseph Reagle's ethnographic study of Wikipedia examines the inner workings of Wikipedia, and in particular, Reagle focuses on Wikipedians, the people who create the Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-59119856542000532652011-03-18T14:38:00.000-07:002011-03-18T14:38:05.244-07:00Clay Shirky's Cognitive SurplusShirky, Clay. Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age. New York: Penguin Press, 2010. 213+ pages.
I finished Shirky's second book (for the longest time, his first book - Here Comes Everybody - was my constant recommendation to anyone who would listen). This book is not as eye-opening as the first book, but Here Comes Everybody is a tough act Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-1274055115542520472010-09-12T11:43:00.000-07:002010-09-12T15:07:08.039-07:00St. Paul Bicycle TourThis morning, I rode 39 miles through the streets of St. Paul. Cars waited for me to clear intersections. Smiling police officers waved me through red lights. Every eight miles or so, there was water, coffee, lemonade, and bagels waiting for me. I shared the roads with an estimated 5000 other cyclists. We were participating in the St. Paul Bicycle Tour.
What Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-23745613668390573302010-09-12T11:15:00.000-07:002010-09-12T11:15:17.206-07:00It's Been A Long TimeI started teaching summer session classes on the first of June, and I haven't written a posting for this blog in over three months. It was an unintentional but perhaps inevitable hiatus.
So now I am back, and I have been thinking about the blog for awhile: how best to use it, what I want to include here. I have two themes that I'd like to explore in the months to come.
One is Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-24477525567097074292010-05-27T07:13:00.000-07:002010-05-27T13:42:15.325-07:00Public v. Private: Pew Research and new Facebook settingsI have written about public v. private issues as they play out in social media in the past, and I have used exchanges with my seventeen-year-old daughter as an example. She and I had another interesting exchange last night.
She is looking for a bathing suit for the upcoming summer, and she and her mother had a disappointing first try at finding something that a) fit and b) was inexpensive.Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-35299262077790265232010-05-26T13:55:00.000-07:002010-05-27T05:55:58.771-07:00Zeitoun by Dave EggersI just finished Dave Eggers' Zeitoun (San Francisco: McSweeney's Books, 2009. 335 pages) today, and it's still swirling around in my mind. Eggers chronicles the lives of the Zeitoun family in the days just prior to and immediately following Hurricane Katrina. The Zeitoun children - Zachary, Nademah, Aisha, Safiya, and Ahmad - play important cameo roles, but the narrative focusesMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-49163036135080881892010-05-24T09:41:00.000-07:002010-05-25T12:11:50.426-07:00danah boyd strikes again: "Quitting Facebook is Pointless"danah boyd is a researcher at Microsoft Research New England and a fellow at the Harvard Berkman Center for Internet and Society. Her blog is called apophenia, and I just discovered it a few weeks ago. If you use a news aggregator, then you really ought to aggregate apophenia - it's great stuff. She's in the middle of a series of article critiquing Facebook and in particular itsMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-49303875026556241832010-05-18T06:27:00.000-07:002010-05-18T06:27:03.756-07:00Facebook and Privacy . . . I don't think so.Yes, I am fixating on Facebook.
I saw this graphic in the New York Times last week, but I was reminded of it again when I read danah boyd's posting, "Facebook and Radical Transparency (a rant)" Of course, in the incestuous blogosphere world, I came to danah's posting via another posting from Will Richardson titled, "Teach. Facebook. Now."
Take a moment to follow Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-84999559751553847702010-05-14T08:44:00.000-07:002010-05-16T08:31:12.778-07:00Facebook, Teachers, and Students Allie Shah wrote a nice piece in Friday, 14 May's StarTribune titled "Why Can't We Be Facebook Friends?" Her description of the muddled boundaries returns me, once again, to some of the questions that I wrote about in a previous post regarding the challenging ways that social media forces us to think about the public and private dimensions of our lives. This news article shapes the Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-34515389945373288182010-05-13T08:25:00.000-07:002010-05-13T08:29:08.712-07:00College, Inc.Colleagues Shannon Gibney and Lois Bollman directed me to this fascinating Frontline episode titled "College, Inc." Other blogs have addressed "College, Inc." - check out, for instance, the 10 May Brainstorm posting from the Chronicle of Higher Education. That won't keep me, however, from adding my thoughts to the conversation. The documentary does have a bias (don'tMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-73556340149654701922010-05-06T12:13:00.000-07:002010-05-13T08:29:42.577-07:00Accidental Billionaires and the Public/Private Dimensions of FacebookYesterday, I finished reading Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genuis, and Betrayal (New York: Doubleday, 2009. 260 pages.) To be honest, I was a bit disappointed. It is more like Entertainment Tonight than it is, say, a probing Frontline episode. There is considerable emphasis on personalities (Eduardo Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-49805314689926436562010-04-27T08:25:00.000-07:002010-04-28T05:51:47.216-07:00Front yards and public spacesI have been thinking about my garden a LOT lately, probably too much. It is my currently preferred distraction. Instead of reading and writing at my computer while developing some serious upper-back pain, I can be outside getting my hands dirty, building garden beds and planting seeds that will grow into beautiful and healthy plants that my family and I can eat. I love that.
MyMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-83687837255179934402010-04-26T07:45:00.000-07:002010-04-26T07:51:01.714-07:00The Magnificent AmbersonsJim Groom recently posted his thoughts about an excerpt from The Magnificent Ambersons that rang true for me (follow the "posted" link to view the excerpt and read Groom's ideas). The clip displays a brief conversation about the impact of the automobile on society. I won't repeat Groom's summary nor his analysis, but I strongly encourage people to view this.
As a late adopter of Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-49454477524056440142010-04-23T12:45:00.000-07:002010-04-23T12:45:05.253-07:00Kurban Said's Ali and NinoI finally finished reading Kurban Said's Ali and Nino: A Love Story, a gift from my Azeri host, Vali Huseynov. The novel was published in 1937, and Kurban Said is likely a pseudonym. The novel was most likely a collaboration between the Baroness Elfriede Ehrenfels and Essad Bey, who was born Lev Nussimbaum in Baku, Azerbaijan, but took the name Essad Bey when he converted to Islam Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-56084363042773727192010-04-23T10:24:00.000-07:002010-04-23T10:32:21.418-07:00KatynI had a recent series of events that strangely interwove with one another. While I was in the Republic of Georgia, my Polish friend Ala made a list of films and books that I should know. One of those films was Katyn, which is a 2007 Polish production directed by Andrzej Wajda. The film focuses on a Soviet and Stalin atrocity: the massacre of over 20,000 Polish military officers Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-40123101785005089662010-04-21T08:11:00.000-07:002010-04-21T08:35:11.220-07:00'Point of No Return'Ramadhan Pohan is a member of Indonesia's Parliment. In Norimitsu Onishi's 20 April NYTimes article "In Indonesia, the Internet Emerges as a (Too?) Powerful Tool," Pohan is quoted as suggesting that "[old-style politicians and bureaucrats] don't realize that in terms of democracy and freedom of expression, we've reached a kind of point of no return," referring to recent political activity Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-66099266819132724682010-04-19T15:53:00.000-07:002010-04-19T13:55:29.622-07:00The Death of Education, but the Dawn of LearningIt had been a while since I checked out the work that colleagues at Minnesota Campus Compact are doing. One of the more exciting developments is the Center for Digital Civic Engagement blog that John Hamerlinck has been nurturing. I find it exciting because it is melding two interests that fascinate me: social media/technology and civic engagement. For a taste of what the blog Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-12358664151086581602010-04-19T15:29:00.000-07:002010-04-19T15:29:52.061-07:00Props to Aaron Spiegel, MCTC StudentAaron Spiegel was recently honored by USA Today as member of their 2010 All-USA Community College Academic Team. Aaron was a member of MCTC's Student Committee on Public Engagement (SCOPE) in 2008, where he learned the basics of community organizing. Truth be told, he came to SCOPE with considerable organizing instincts and skills. He is one of the top student organizers I haveMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-983577846246856252010-04-19T11:33:00.000-07:002010-04-19T11:34:25.135-07:00A Public Achievement Coach's ReflectionI read with interest the By the People's recent posting, which is the reflection of a college student coaching a Public Achievement team in Milledgeville, Georgia (USA). John Fogelman's story is a good one, not rose-colored but truthful in its assessment of public work as hard work, work that changes coaches as well as team members.
I think all Public Achievement coaches will be interestedMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-42336019393584305702010-04-19T07:04:00.000-07:002010-04-19T07:04:39.889-07:00'The Disaggregation of Higher Education'Will Richardson, whose Weblogg-ed is a must-read for anyone thinking about that Texas-sized intersection of technology and education, recently wrote about a New York Times Magazine article titled "An Open Mind" by Kate Hafner. I won't repeat Richardson's analysis, other than to recommend it to all of you reading this blog.
Instead, I want to draw some attention to some of Hafner's points Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-69812324173362297092010-04-13T07:40:00.000-07:002010-04-15T06:32:04.875-07:00Mingachevir's PA Team "Charitable Youth" Wins National Azerbaijan AwardThrough the email listserv created by Shukufe Nacafova, I was informed that the Public Achievement team Charitable Youth, mentored by teacher Gulnaz Hajiyeva and college student Elvin Aliyev in Mingachevir, Azerbaijan, recently received a national award in Baku for their ecological project to keep the River Kura clean and pure. I am hoping that Gulnaz, Elvin or their team will comment and Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-30859877591200384682010-04-12T07:25:00.001-07:002010-04-12T18:00:21.869-07:00Thomas Goltz's Chechnya DiaryI finished Thomas Goltz's Chechnya Diary over the weekend. I highly recommend this book (as well as Georgia Diary and Azerbaijan Diary) if people are interested in reading about these three remarkably interesting countries and regions. However, I read the Goltz Caucasus trilogy out of order. This posting briefly summarizes all three books and provides a short review of Chechnya DiaryMichael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-53930302088274761612010-04-08T10:20:00.000-07:002010-04-12T18:01:35.509-07:00You can see more photographs of the Azerbaijan and Republic of Georgia tripat my new Shutterfly website. Who knows? You might be in one of those photographs!:)
As usual, I'd love to hear from people. Please use the "comment" feature at the bottom of the postings to let me and the readers know what you think.Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5741280965578699987.post-74306639199453383162010-04-08T09:28:00.000-07:002010-04-08T15:43:21.394-07:00Georgia and Azerbaijan - Concluding ThoughtsMap Photo by lyndonK2's photostream
Flickr Creative Commons
It's Thursday, 8 April, and I spent part of this morning reading a New York Times article titled, "An Insurgency Evolves in the Caucasus Region as Wounds Fester," which describes the resurgence of violence in Chechnya, Dagestan, and Ingushetia, all resistant Russian states just over the Caucasus mountains from Georgia and Azerbaijan.&Michael Kuhnehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07440440151841464985noreply@blogger.com1