I don’t really know how to write this post. Saying goodbye is never easy, and sunsetting a duct-taped platform that gave life to thousands of voices for over 16 years is not trivial. Out of curiosity I peeked at the aggregate numbers for UMW Blogs when we first started tracking hits in 2010 (3 years after its launch in 2007) and it’s kind of mind-boggling: UMW Blogs traffic since 2010 That’s well over 16 million users that started 20 million sessions and viewed 34 million pages that have been recorded. Not bad for a humble publishing platform for the UMW community that was born on a shared hosting account for $75 annually—let’s round-up to $90 with domain registration. In many ways UMW Blogs embodied the anarchic spirit of fast, cheap, and out-of-control technology that flew in the face of over-engineered, locked-down, and expensive systems that were increasingly third-party solutions. Not only did the existing systems provide little to no agency for the … [Read more...]
Some Welcome Love for the LAMP Stack
I, too, love LAMP. In @readtedium, @ShortFormErnie "shines a light on LAMP, the background tools that, together, turned the internet into a machine that anyone could run." cc @jimgroom @timmmmyboy @brumface https://t.co/B7Sw5vKFr1 — David D. LaCroix (@DavidDLaCroix) September 4, 2021 I really enjoyed Ernie Smith’s article “I Love Lamp” over on his Tedium.co blog, big thanks to David LaCroix for the link. He provides a succinct and fascinating history into the rise of the killer stack that has reigned for over 20 years. There has been a lot of talk about the New Hack Stack, and I’ve been fascinated with those developments for the last decade and what they could mean for Reclaim Hosting. But at the end of the day, LAMP is still very much the workhorse behind the modern web. And if you’re like WTF is LAMP, it’s the suite of open source technologies Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP that were combined to build the web servers that still … [Read more...]
Whence DTLT?
I just want to be clear that from where I am standing DTLT is not dead, and from what I understand the great Jerry Slezak (who was already there when I arrived in 2005) has recently taken over the group. he will be hiring a new staff (something that happened 3 short years ago to no dire cries of an untimely death), and from what I understand a long list of amazing faculty that have done incredible work for over 20 yeas are still there. So, needless to say, I was a bit appalled when I saw the exaggerated announcements of UMW’s death on Twitter so uncritically accepted as a foregone conclusion. And, of course, the retweets and likes almost immediately started to roll in, the eulogies were tweeted, and everyone was so god damned right. I remember more than a few folks telling me to check my ego when I decided to leave UMW, and I tried given no one person makes a group. And when a group leaves en masse as DTLT has the last couple of years, there is definitely a problem. Where exactly … [Read more...]
Stommel Provides Expertise for Inside Higher Ed
Jesse Stommel, executive director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, was among a panel of digital experts who provided perspective for an Inside Higher Ed article about digital learning development. To read the article, go to “Predicting 2017’s Legacy.” [...] … [Read more...]
Stommel Provides Expertise for Inside Higher Ed
Jesse Stommel, executive director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, was among a panel of digital experts who provided perspective for an Inside Higher Ed article about digital learning development. To read the article, go to “Predicting 2017’s Legacy.” [...] The post Stommel Provides Expertise for Inside Higher Ed appeared first on EagleEye. … [Read more...]
Shaffer Talks with Bloomberg News about Fake Accounts
Instructional technology specialist Kris Shaffer recently commented in an article for Bloomberg Technology. The article, “How the Kremlin Tried to Pose as American News Sites on Twitter,” detailed how a Kremlin-backed Russian Internet Research Agency operated dozens of Twitter accounts masquerading as local American news sources that garnered more than half-a-million followers. According to the article, the majority [...] … [Read more...]
Shaffer Talks with Bloomberg News about Fake Accounts
Instructional technology specialist Kris Shaffer recently commented in an article for Bloomberg Technology. The article, “How the Kremlin Tried to Pose as American News Sites on Twitter,” detailed how a Kremlin-backed Russian Internet Research Agency operated dozens of Twitter accounts masquerading as local American news sources that garnered more than half-a-million followers. According to the article, the majority [...] The post Shaffer Talks with Bloomberg News about Fake Accounts appeared first on EagleEye. … [Read more...]
Shaffer Comments in Inside Higher Ed Article
Kris Shaffer, an instructional technology specialist at the University of Mary Washington, was recently quoted in Inside Higher Ed. In the article "Net Neutrality Rollback Concerns Colleges," Shaffer said that many students working from home already have slow internet, making it difficult for them to access course materials. "If ISPs start charging customers more for [...] … [Read more...]
Shaffer Comments in Inside Higher Ed Article
Kris Shaffer, an instructional technology specialist at the University of Mary Washington, was recently quoted in Inside Higher Ed. In the article "Net Neutrality Rollback Concerns Colleges," Shaffer said that many students working from home already have slow internet, making it difficult for them to access course materials. "If ISPs start charging customers more for [...] The post Shaffer Comments in Inside Higher Ed Article appeared first on EagleEye. … [Read more...]
Leaving UMW: the 2008 Edition
While packing up the books in my house (I haven’t even started on the office yet), I found the above card from my DTLT colleagues wedged in a Captain America Mad Libs. They gave it to me back in February of 2008 on the occasion of my first remove from UMW to work at the University of Richmond, a period we affectionately refer to as my “sabbatical.” I have to admit it’s kind wild to find this as I prepare for the second remove. Things will be changing for me very soon, and that comes with it’s own excitement. But artifacts like this provide a pleasant reminder of just how important these folks have been in my personal and professional life over the last ten years. I’ll miss the salad days of DTLT. See that, I started the nostalgia before I’m even out the door … [Read more...]