At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
washingtonpost.com
At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
1–10 of 27 posts
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#2The WaPo article provides so much more info that we changed to it from http://www.english.upenn.edu/Courses/Undergraduate/2015/Spri..., even though the latter is an original source.
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#3Worth noting from the course listing that this is an English/Creative Writing class, not a Computer Science class. So I imagine you would be writing papers about wasting time on the internet rather than actually doing so.
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#4Worth noting from the course listing that this is an English/Creative Writing class, not a Computer Science class. So I imagine you would be writing papers about wasting time on the internet rather than actually doing so.
As part of its so-called core curriculum, Penn typically requires students in all schools to take a writing class. They kinda go out of their way to offer a variety of interesting options because writing is not everyone's thing. My class was "Man in Nature" and featured Thorough, Emerson, etc. It focused a lot on being in nature, which is also atypical for an English class, just not the kind of atypical that gets reported.
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#5Worth noting from the course listing that this is an English/Creative Writing class, not a Computer Science class. So I imagine you would be writing papers about wasting time on the internet rather than actually doing so.
Read the article. Not quite what you think. There is writing involved, but actual time "wasting" is definitely a key part of the curriculum :)
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#6Worth noting from the course listing that this is an English/Creative Writing class, not a Computer Science class. So I imagine you would be writing papers about wasting time on the internet rather than actually doing so.
Yeah, this is an art project, effectively.
Certainly interesting and I would say worthy of HN, but it's not a tech article.
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#7The WaPo article provides so much more info that we changed to it from http://www.english.upenn.edu/Courses/Undergraduate/2015/Spri... , even though the latter is an original source.
This is a great example of how journalism can provide narrative value.
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#8Worth noting from the course listing that this is an English/Creative Writing class, not a Computer Science class. So I imagine you would be writing papers about wasting time on the internet rather than actually doing so.
Read the article. Not quite what you think. There is writing involved, but actual time "wasting" is definitely a key part of the curriculum :)
Yeah, it's basically a writing workshop class with class hours as enforced "let your mind wander and use that for inspiration" time. (Presumably writing submissions and feedback happen online or at the beginning or end of class sessions.)
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#9Kenny Goldsmith [0], the guy who teaches this class, has done a lot of thinking about internet-based poetics... highly recommend his book "Uncreative Writing"[1] for those interested
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Goldsmith
[1] http://www.amazon.com/Uncreative-Writing-Managing-Language-D...
Re: At Penn, students can get credit for ‘Wasting Time on the Internet’
#10It's worth taking a look at the instructor, Kenneth Goldsmith's, bio[0]. He's one of the founders of UBUweb and MoMA's first poet laureate. He also had a recent interview with Stephen Colbert where they talk about his new book which consists of live television and radio transcripts of the moment announcers found out about major events in US history (JFK's assassination, 9/11, etc.) as a study on the language of improvisation.[1]
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Goldsmith
[1] http://thecolbertreport.cc.com/videos/5tqazj/kenneth-goldsmi...