Category: issues

“There is an inherent tension between reviewers and reviewed, and that’s inevitable, even healthy.”

“How much are students actually learning in contemporary higher education? The answer for many undergraduates, we have concluded, is not much,” write the authors

“From its founding in 2006, WikiLeaks has been engaged not simply in the distribution of information but also in competition within a marketplace of ideas, reputation, perception. Part of what matters in this competition is WikiLeaks’s image: reckless, arrogant outlaws? Or bold, righteous revolutionaries?”

“Liberal arts professors today seem incapable of talking about what they do without metaphorically assuming a ‘duck and cover’ position. Why is this? And is it in the best interests of the liberal arts that we are perpetually defending them?”

“Beginning around 2002, artists began experimenting with how Web 2.0 culture (browsing, sharing, producing, and aggregating data) could merge with art. Now the last bastion of individuality – the notion of art as an expression of one person’s vision – is crumbling, invaded by art as a group activity.”

“There is very little in cultural life that is easier than ignoring what critics have to say, and for more than 200 years normal Americans have been doing just that. And critics, for the most part, have accepted that, since virtually none of us is actually motivated by the urge to tell other people what to do.”

“Hungarian writers and musicians have descended on Brussels to add their voices to a fast-growing chorus of criticism aimed at measures being introduced by their Prime Minister Victor Orban. The outcry centres on a new media law that opponents say will muzzle press freedom and endanger independent media.”

“The foreclosure crisis has helped resurrect an ancient tradition: the house cleansing. Buyers … are turning to witches, psychics, priests and feng shui consultants, among others, to bless or exorcise dwellings. Sellers, too, are adopting the trend to help move a property stuck on the market.”

“Vancouver city council is considering creating a ‘cultural hub’ in the downtown core … [at] the same location used as a live concert site during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. … The site is the same swath of land the Vancouver Art Gallery wants for its new location.”

“British theatre continues to buck the recession, according to a new report revealing the resilience of the performing arts sector compared with restaurants, pubs and clubs. … The report states: ‘The performing arts benefit from the same prevailing trends as cinema, in that they are perceived as a way of escaping from the tyranny of value, cutting back and saving’.”