“Yes, at the moment the concept is seen as little more than another bit of self-referential young person slang, used only in the deepest recesses of the web. … But irony poisoning should be entered, we think, into the pantheon of social science concepts that are used to rigorously measure, study and perhaps one day understand how social media platforms can rewire your brain and alter society.” Max Fisher and Amanda Taub explore the concept and how it works.
Tag: 08.23.18
In Search Of A More Inclusive Plural Form Of Address Than ‘You Guys’
“There are, of course, plenty of people — including many women — who have no problem being addressed as ‘guys,’ think the word has evolved to be entirely gender-neutral, and don’t see a reason to change their usage. But others aren’t so sure. … In the course of reporting this story, I heard from teachers who wanted a better way to get students’ attention, an ice-cream scooper who wanted a better way to greet customers, and a debate coach who specifically encourages his students to use ‘y’all.’ These are representatives of a broad coalition of people who have contemplated, and often gone through with, excising ‘guys’ from their vocabularies.”
Students Are Dropping The Humanities In Droves
“Five years ago, I argued that the humanities were still near long-term norms in their number of majors. But since then, I’ve been watching the numbers from the Department of Education, and every year, things look worse. Almost every humanities field has seen a rapid drop in majors: History is down about 45 percent from its 2007 peak, while the number of English majors has fallen by nearly half since the late 1990s.”
Disney Will Give Up Tax Breaks To Avoid Paying Disneyland Workers A Living Wage
“The Walt Disney Company came under heavy fire on Thursday for a decision to walk away from hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks for its southern California theme parks, a move critics are characterizing as an extraordinary last-ditch effort to avoid paying a living wage to thousands of workers.”
Orlando’s New Ballet Company Will Go Out Of Its Way To Protect Its Dancers’ Bodies
Joseph Gatti’s vision for his new troupe, United Ballet Theatre (which debuts this weekend), was inspired by a fracture in his foot three years ago: “The injury really opened my eyes to the organization of a company and the care and treatment that needs to be addressed constantly. I wanted to create a company that’s treating the dancers not just as artists but as athletes.” His plan, the Gatti Method, is “to build strength training, conditioning, recovery time and physical therapy into UBT’s daily schedule.”
New App Makes Bollywood Movies Accessible To Millions Of India’s Blind
“XL Cinema [is] an app developed in India that can synchronise an audio description of a movie with its cinema audio track. … Before the app’s arrival, the only way to watch a movie with audio description was to wait months after the film’s release to order a DVD from [the NGO] Saksham, if [it] had created one for that film.”
Can North America’s Shakespeare Theatres Expand Their Audiences Without Losing Their Reason For Existing?
Peter Marks: “One can sense, in visiting … companies and talking to leaders of classical theaters across North America, a revolution in how to package Shakespeare is not only gradually gaining momentum but is also being viewed as essential. At Stratford, for instance, an ethos prevails of theater as not simply a passive entertainment. More and more, it’s a conveyance for other social and intellectual activities on the sprawling festival campus.”
For Orchestras, Programming Music By Women Isn’t Just Doing The Right Thing – It’s Smart Audience Development
Peter Dobrin: “This is not about righting a social injustice, though programming more women is clearly that. … The predilection for passing through the graduated hoops of listener to subscriber to donor hinges upon emotion … [and] it means a lot to listeners when they see their own identity reflected in what their orchestra does.”
Troubled Newseum Loses Yet Another Top Exec
“Scott Williams is leaving the struggling Newseum after six years — including the past six months as the journalism museum’s president — to lead the Discovery Park of America in Union City, Tenn. Williams is the latest of a string of senior executives to depart the struggling institution that last August began exploring the sale of its Pennsylvania Avenue building or closing entirely.”
New Crowdfunded Press Publishes Quick-Turnaround Books By Journalists On Current Affairs
Byline Media, a London-based crowdfunded platform for independent journalism, has launched a book-publishing arm. Byline Books’ first release, A Virtue of Disobedience by Asim Qureshi, “was typeset, proofed, and printed within five weeks of the fundraising effort’s end date, April 25.” Journalist Mark Piesing talks to Qureishi and to Byline Media co-director Stephen Colegrave about the venture.