Online sensation Khan Academy has dramatically changed math instruction for many students, and some teachers. Now it’s moving to expand its topics and accessibility – and open a real, physical school.
Author: ArtsJournal2
We Read, And Social-Network About Reading, To Know We’re Not Alone
“Reading is solitary, and anyone who wants to discuss a passage must first shut their book,” says an entrepreneur who’s working on a social networking start-up that’s purely for those who love to read (and talk about what they’re reading).
You Might Play FarmVille For Hours, But Is It Fun? (Maybe)
“Put simply, fun games engage players’ curiosity, allow players to socialize with friends, challenge players to overcome obstacles to achieve goals and somehow relate to people’s lives in a meaningful way.” Do social games like FarmVille and CastleVille meet this definition?
New Yorkers, Calm Down: Arkansas Deserves Art Too
At the new Wal-Mart-fortune-funded Crystal Bridges: “Why should art be sandwiched in cities? City folk may go to more opening parties, but they’re no more culture hungry. Often less. In the meantime, talk here in the local bar is all about the new museum.”
Young, Sexy, Willing To Make The Musician’s Life (Quite) Public
Does it behoove young, attractive musicians to live their private lives online? Do audiences really want to know about a cellist’s love life, or hear Lang Lang play “Flight of the Bumblebee” on an iPad? (Well … yes.)
Meta Playwriting – What Happens To The Audience?
If a playwright thinks too much about playwriting, might she lose her non-playwright audience? And is there a playwright’s playwright’s playwright out there somewhere?
Where Have All The Big (Economics) Thinkers Gone?
Small solutions and small thinking won’t work anymore, says an economics historian. Time to return to big ideas about capitalism – in order to save it.
Square Peg, Round Hole For Your Short Story? Amazon Can Fit It In
Amazon helps journalists and fiction authors publish short stories and long articles – but why? Could be to accustom writers, and consumers, to working only for the e-giant, some suspect.
Embedded, With Pencil And Brush, In Iraq And Afghanistan
Steve Mumford went to Iraq to draw the invasion – and returned many times. Now, he sees the art world differently. “I actually don’t think artists are that interested in politics, at least most of the painters I know,” he says. “They’re a bit like the soldiers I met in Iraq, quick to express a vague political conviction but really more interested in getting back to doing what they like.”
Steve Jobs, Given The Full Daisey Treatment
If Steve Jobs hadn’t died, Mike Daisey might not be selling out the Public Theatre. Then again, if Steve Jobs had bothered to visit the Foxconn factory in China, Mike Daisey might not need to be telling the story of Jobs, warts and all.