Well, according to Ask Metafilter... August 18, 2010 11:11 AM Subscribe
An example of Ask Metafilter as a cited resource (my online world meets my offline world and that delights me to no end :)
I know other people have already experienced it, but this is my first time where I'm at my laptop frantically tracking down articles for a new class, look down, and see a comment from Ask Metafilter as a footnote in an article.
Don't know if anyone is tracking sightings (citings! Get it?) in the wild, but if so, well, there you go.
It was a strange experience, kind of like going to make copies and having Johnny Depp hand me a stapler as he's walking through the mail room. A pause of recognition, some confusion, then delight.
Or maybe it's not like that at all. Maybe I need to stop drinking coffee and get some sleep.
I know other people have already experienced it, but this is my first time where I'm at my laptop frantically tracking down articles for a new class, look down, and see a comment from Ask Metafilter as a footnote in an article.
Don't know if anyone is tracking sightings (citings! Get it?) in the wild, but if so, well, there you go.
It was a strange experience, kind of like going to make copies and having Johnny Depp hand me a stapler as he's walking through the mail room. A pause of recognition, some confusion, then delight.
Or maybe it's not like that at all. Maybe I need to stop drinking coffee and get some sleep.
The scholarly citation itself:
[Blackboard is a] horrendous monstrosity and the people who created it should be ashamed
Yeeeeeep, that's our MeFi. Heh.
posted by Gator at 11:28 AM on August 18, 2010 [5 favorites]
[Blackboard is a] horrendous monstrosity and the people who created it should be ashamed
Yeeeeeep, that's our MeFi. Heh.
posted by Gator at 11:28 AM on August 18, 2010 [5 favorites]
I am suddenly much more interested in staplers and mailrooms than I used to be.
posted by headnsouth at 11:36 AM on August 18, 2010
posted by headnsouth at 11:36 AM on August 18, 2010
It's pretty lazy that the best citation they could find for blackboard being terrible is five years old. Anyone publishing about the internet via ACM should understand that five years of Internet time is like 50 human years. Which makes it all the more damning when BB still hasn't improved, because it spends its time and money buying competitors and burying their products.
posted by pwnguin at 11:45 AM on August 18, 2010
posted by pwnguin at 11:45 AM on August 18, 2010
And for my next published article, I will be citing liberally to the authorities at Yahoo! Answers.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:01 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by Admiral Haddock at 12:01 PM on August 18, 2010
"[Blackboard is a] horrendous monstrosity and the people who created it should be ashamed"
Jaltcoh: "And such a reasoned, nuanced commentary too."
When you're right, you don't have to be nuanced.
posted by Plutor at 12:13 PM on August 18, 2010
Jaltcoh: "And such a reasoned, nuanced commentary too."
When you're right, you don't have to be nuanced.
posted by Plutor at 12:13 PM on August 18, 2010
And for my next published article, I will be citing liberally to the authorities at Yahoo! Answers.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Associated Obstetricians of America, I have made an incredible breakthrough in discovering how babby is formed.
posted by DU at 12:21 PM on August 18, 2010 [11 favorites]
Ladies and gentlemen of the Associated Obstetricians of America, I have made an incredible breakthrough in discovering how babby is formed.
posted by DU at 12:21 PM on August 18, 2010 [11 favorites]
This reminds me of what happened to me when I was researching articles for my Masters in linguistics last semester. My paper topics were focused on MetaFilter and the pronunciation of MeFi/MeFite. I was randomly looking at articles by Susan Herring and others...papers on gender and genre representation in online communication (specifically, blogs). Many authors were using a relatively new classification system of defining blogs as either 'filter' or 'diary' blogs. I thought, "Hey, neat! According to all this research, MetaFilter is a filter blog, and how convenient that the word 'filter' is in the name 'MetaFilter'!" Little did I know, that all of these articles converged on a singular reference:
The kicker in all of this...I have not been able to track down this paper, this person, or anybody citing them at all...I'm dying to read this paper, or to talk to somebody who has read it, to find out what the deal is with the classification system and where it originated. Also, how the paper goes.
I call it the Krishnamurthy MetaFilter Mystery and it stands to this day. I have been to the moon and back and remain lost. But it was pretty funny when my references folded in on themselves. (And subsequently disappointing when there was no there there.)
posted by iamkimiam at 12:27 PM on August 18, 2010 [10 favorites]
Krishnamurthy, S. (2002). The Multidimensionality of Blog Conversations: The Virtual Enactment of September 11. In Maastricht, The Netherlands: Internet Research 3.0.In trying to track down this reference, and thus figuring out the origin of the terms 'filter' and 'diary' blog, I was led right back to, well, here. Surprise! Turns out, Krishnamurthy's paper was actually a case study of MetaFilter, very likely related to this question here.
The kicker in all of this...I have not been able to track down this paper, this person, or anybody citing them at all...I'm dying to read this paper, or to talk to somebody who has read it, to find out what the deal is with the classification system and where it originated. Also, how the paper goes.
I call it the Krishnamurthy MetaFilter Mystery and it stands to this day. I have been to the moon and back and remain lost. But it was pretty funny when my references folded in on themselves. (And subsequently disappointing when there was no there there.)
posted by iamkimiam at 12:27 PM on August 18, 2010 [10 favorites]
As a description of Blackboard, that's positively charitable.
posted by rmd1023 at 12:34 PM on August 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by rmd1023 at 12:34 PM on August 18, 2010 [2 favorites]
I drove by Blackboard's headquarters the other day. Surprisingly, the building had a sensible design, appeared to be structurally sound, and was open around the clock.
I wish I could say the same about their software. rmd1023's right -- BlackBoard deserves every ounce of vitriol that gets spewed at them.
posted by schmod at 12:59 PM on August 18, 2010
I wish I could say the same about their software. rmd1023's right -- BlackBoard deserves every ounce of vitriol that gets spewed at them.
posted by schmod at 12:59 PM on August 18, 2010
The kicker in all of this...I have not been able to track down this paper, this person, or anybody citing them at all.
I presume you've seen the abstract, but just in case, here it is. As far as I can tell, it was presented but never published. But maybe someone can contact Krishnamurthy and wheedle it out of him? Now I want to read it too.
posted by languagehat at 1:03 PM on August 18, 2010
I presume you've seen the abstract, but just in case, here it is. As far as I can tell, it was presented but never published. But maybe someone can contact Krishnamurthy and wheedle it out of him? Now I want to read it too.
posted by languagehat at 1:03 PM on August 18, 2010
Oh cool is this the thread where we hate Blackboard?
Seriously fuck those guys.
Have they suceeded in crushing the open source LMS community yet, or have they sank under the vast depletion of easy money as increasingly broke universities refuse to pay for Bb once it buys and destroys its competitors?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:07 PM on August 18, 2010
Seriously fuck those guys.
Have they suceeded in crushing the open source LMS community yet, or have they sank under the vast depletion of easy money as increasingly broke universities refuse to pay for Bb once it buys and destroys its competitors?
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:07 PM on August 18, 2010
iamkimiam: His professional email is in his mefi profile. Did he not respond?
posted by special-k at 2:25 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by special-k at 2:25 PM on August 18, 2010
I have not been able to track down this paper, this person, or anybody citing them at all...
Here are some articles citing that paper. There are many more if you look on google scholar.
Also, the reason you cannot find that article is because it was a presentation at a conference and not a peer-reviewed publication. Here is the abstract. Full conference papers are only available to members of the association of internet researchers. You could contact the program chair and see if they can share a copy with you. But first you should just email the author directly if you haven't done so already.
posted by special-k at 2:42 PM on August 18, 2010
We appear to have driven off SandeepKrishnamurthy in 2003.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:17 PM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by monju_bosatsu at 3:17 PM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
I wish people would only cite threads in which my contributions weren't stupid.
posted by geoff. at 3:58 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by geoff. at 3:58 PM on August 18, 2010
When you're right, you don't have to be nuanced.
However, it is very often the case that you have to be nuanced to be right.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:29 PM on August 18, 2010
However, it is very often the case that you have to be nuanced to be right.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 5:29 PM on August 18, 2010
My recent moment of weirdness was when the climbing gym I go to played this song... it took me most of the song before I realized where I knew it from.
posted by nat at 6:34 PM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by nat at 6:34 PM on August 18, 2010 [1 favorite]
I wrote to Krishnamurthy and received no response. Nor from the people I contacted who cited him in their papers. Thanks for the links above, special-k, but they're all borked. :( I'll try contacting the chair...hadn't thought of that one, and it's a good one!
posted by iamkimiam at 8:20 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by iamkimiam at 8:20 PM on August 18, 2010
Had this same thing happen at some point last year while writing a paper on post-identity and temporary autonomous zones in art. Let me see. Ah yes:
Tom Vanderbilt on The Yes Men, Artforum, Feb. 2005:
"JEAN-FRANÇOIS LYOTARD famously described post-modernism as 'incredulity toward metanarratives.' But lately I have thought a more apt characterization would be "incredulity toward MetaFilter," using the popular blog (metafilter.com) as a metaphor for all Internet information, which arrives in such volume and with so many hallmarks of legitimacy as to strain the usual measures of veracity."
Youse guys are kah-lassie!
Also excellent timing for an excuse for me to get my Blackboard hate on! I just got a contract job today to work on with a team on one of the current open-source competitors to that hideous piece of poo. We'll rise from the ashes, Potomac Avenue.
posted by stagewhisper at 9:11 PM on August 18, 2010
Tom Vanderbilt on The Yes Men, Artforum, Feb. 2005:
"JEAN-FRANÇOIS LYOTARD famously described post-modernism as 'incredulity toward metanarratives.' But lately I have thought a more apt characterization would be "incredulity toward MetaFilter," using the popular blog (metafilter.com) as a metaphor for all Internet information, which arrives in such volume and with so many hallmarks of legitimacy as to strain the usual measures of veracity."
Youse guys are kah-lassie!
Also excellent timing for an excuse for me to get my Blackboard hate on! I just got a contract job today to work on with a team on one of the current open-source competitors to that hideous piece of poo. We'll rise from the ashes, Potomac Avenue.
posted by stagewhisper at 9:11 PM on August 18, 2010
*Work with a team. Or on a team. Whatever, I'm giddy.
posted by stagewhisper at 9:16 PM on August 18, 2010
posted by stagewhisper at 9:16 PM on August 18, 2010
I hear your dad went into the usual measures of veracity and he strained the usual measures of veracity and they had to close the usual measures of veracity.
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:46 AM on August 19, 2010
posted by cortex (staff) at 8:46 AM on August 19, 2010
You're an ice cream.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:38 AM on August 19, 2010
posted by ocherdraco at 9:38 AM on August 19, 2010
iamkimiam: "I wrote to Krishnamurthy and received no response."
In case you didn't already try this out: Contact his department's admin assistant to find out if he's still working there and what the best way to contact him is. He is in fact the Director of that department, so the guy might be busy enough that you need to schedule time with his assistant in advance. He may very well have an assistant read his email and filter it for him.
Given that this presentation doesn't show on his Vita, it may be the case that he's not proud of the work or not the same person as the author.
posted by pwnguin at 11:14 AM on August 19, 2010
In case you didn't already try this out: Contact his department's admin assistant to find out if he's still working there and what the best way to contact him is. He is in fact the Director of that department, so the guy might be busy enough that you need to schedule time with his assistant in advance. He may very well have an assistant read his email and filter it for him.
Given that this presentation doesn't show on his Vita, it may be the case that he's not proud of the work or not the same person as the author.
posted by pwnguin at 11:14 AM on August 19, 2010
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posted by Jaltcoh at 11:26 AM on August 18, 2010