For the past week I have been getting used to life in Spain.  For the month of May I am studying here with Francisco Salgado-Robles, a professor in the Spanish department. Last Sunday for the first time ever I took a plane out of the States and made the journey to Spain.  Right now I am living in Seville which is in southern Spain about an hour from the coast.  I have been here, in Seville, for a week now and I still get lost when I am going to my classes.  I am also doing service learning so I work at a Children’s Hospital.  

I have been to many places with some of rich history of both Spain and the United States.  For example, this past weekend my class went to La Rabida and la playa (the beach) where we saw the monastery where Christopher Columbus (in spanish he is know as Cristobal Colon) went to get monks as warriors for his ships.  

Many are quick to critique social media as being a giant time waste, something incredibly self-indulgent, and even slightly creepy. We have all heard these arguments before. An interesting counterargument posits that social media can be used to increase social capital and even be used for purposes of social good. The same two arguments also swirl around the sphere of videogames as well. I can't tell you how many times my parents told me to turn off my Nintendo and go outside. So what happens when you smash social media, gaming, and social good all into one? We're finding new, innovative sites almost everyday. 

As the Internet and social media are growing and changing, the idea of of what is proper nettiquete has been debated by many professionals and academics. While there is no one widely accepted canon of guidelines for online behvior, there seem to be a few generally accepted do's and don'ts.  I've recently been reading The Chronicle of Higher Education, a great source for all things higher ed. I came across this article, 10 Commandments of Twitter for Academics. The author, Katrina Gulliver, goes over a few commonly asked questions about social media interaction for academics as well as frequent mistakes academics make in the Twitterverse. It's a pretty interesting read.

If you don't have a Twitter account, you should get one. Follow A&S @UKarts_sciences and we'll be your first follow! Join the Conversation!

Coming from a Library & Information Science background, I am always excited when I see resources getting archived -- especially online (despite my reservations about the amount of power it takes to keep all those servers up and running). The web started off as an information commons, where anyone with access could peruse or post their own contributions to the growing pool of knowledge. I was reading the WNYC blog and came across this article about the 2012 WebWise Conference, which focused on "Tradition and Innovation;" mostly dealing with the challenges and opportunities that come along with archiving in the digital age.

One of the things the blog mentions is Fugazi's Live Series archives, which will eventually hold 800 live shows... I've liked this band for going on fifteen years, so it's pretty cool that I'll get to listen to shows that they were playing when I was in kindergarten! Another thing it mentioned was the Oral History Metadata Synchronizer, which I interviewed Doug Boyd about awhile back. 

I've discovered that a lot of us at the Hive frequent Inside Higher Ed, a great source for higher education news, blogs, articles, and opinions. Recently, I came across this blogpost that gives great advice for college undergraduates, postgraduates, researchers, and professors alike on good practices when it comes to writing a grant or scholarship applications essays, CV's, and even recommendation letters. I highly recommend checking it out if you have a few minutes to spare!

TEDTalks are some of the most interesting pieces of video I have come across, and the stories and findings that are revealed in these talks are going to be coming to WUKY 91.3 on Sundays! There's a fresh article on UKnow about it, which reminded me that I haven't listened to a good TEDTalk in awhile. As an audio nerd, I think that these often lend themselves better to a video format, but I love the mobility of audio-only formats! I will probably be downloading these and listening to them while I walk to work. 

If you haven't heard of these TED things, check some out. Or better yet, wait until you're on a deserted island with wi-fi. There are hundreds of these videos posted each year; currently about 900 are online for free. A recent, interesting one is Brian Greene's "Is our universe the only universe?"

So, sometimes when I'm producing a podcast, I think, "Man, I wish I had some recordings sitting around of background noise, or birdsong, or tires on a gravel road..." and now, I don't have to worry about going and getting that audio myself (well, most of the time). Though it is more fun to go out and collect field recordings myself, I don't always have time to do it, and I do like to add some atmosphere here and there in pieces where it makes sense to do so.

Freesound.org is a collaborative database of sounds under Creative Commons licensure. A lot of drum hits, sound effects, and for some reason, 34 tracks of people eating carrots... all under Creative Commons licenses, some of which are really free & open and some of which ask that the artists be attributed, or that the tracks not be used for commercial purposes. Either way, CC licenses seek to allow people fair use of things that would otherwise be subject to traditional copyright law, which is vague at best and erring on the side of caution can mean not using much of a work. 

Here's an interesting article about the current trends of social media. The author uses the term "social discovery" to refer to the phenomenon of posting and sharing what users have found versus what users are doing. I think it's a very interesting concept, and he's hitting the nail right on the head. Media sites like Pintrest, Tumblr, StumbleUpon and Reddit are all about sharing something that one has found and deems interesting and worthy of sharing, perhaps for their own benefit (self-esteem) or for the benefit of others (shared knowledge). 

Students - don’t forget to check out and register for A&S summer classes. A&S is offering nearly 200 courses both online and campus-based for summer 2012. These courses are designed for students who want to make progress toward a UK degree over the summer, gain extra credit hours, explore new topics, and have flexibility with busy summer schedules. With courses ranging from anthropology and chemistry to political science and statistics, A&S has something for everyone.



The courses will be offered in two summer sessions:



Summer Session I

4-week Session (May 8-June 5)

First 6-week session (May 8-June 19)



Summer Session II

8-week session (June 7-August 2)

Second 6-week session (June 21-August 2)



For more information about summer courses, visit http://www.as.uky.edu/summer-online-courses or contact your academic advisor.

Enroll this summer and see where A&S summer courses can take you!