#MLKDay2016 Digital #SocialJustice Memorial

…the day online, in memorable social media memes, the dominant genre, articles, blog posts and videos. Tomorrow, let's all not go back to business as usual. Pay extra attention to the quotes and articles that make you uncomfortable or go against the grain of your personal ideology or world view. As Paul Thomas writes, 

One commitment is to resist the whitewashing of Martin Luther King Jr. as a passive radical. So here, I offer some readings, varied and important, but pathways to honoring the radical MLK and to resisting the lingering dream deferred.

This meme is a favorite because it resonates personally and on many levels:

…and many thoughtful articles and blog posts 

#mla16 it's that time of year again

… just a short, preliminary post with suggestions for following from afar, mostly to get one out before the academic boycott sessions #s119 ("Boycotting Israeli Academic Institutions") and #s148 ("The Academic Boycott: Taking Sides") start. 

Here's an online reading list to fill in any academic boycott informarion gaps you may have. If you think academia, the MLA and professional associations should be actively support social justice and be involved in movements, then you should follow and speak up in this discussion. 

#NAWD links from the #BigRedA is for #Adjunct

…is the Big Red A giving National Adjunct Walkout Day a thumbs up, hitchhiking or getting ready to walk? I've been collecting links and tweets for a Storify (that I'd better get to before it goes as jumbo out of hand as the COCAL XI Storify) and am also working on a handful of related posts (including but not limited to a history of the Big Red A, Why February ~ another history, and the Adjunct alphabet game). The links are to a) tide you over until then, and b) remind you to check out, follow, share and, most especially, join conversation on any one or all of the main Walkout Day locations (discussion board, Facebook page, Event page, Twitter stream and hashtag) below

 National Adjunct Walkout Day Discussion Board

 National Adjunct Walkout Day on Facebook

 National Adjunct Walkout Day EventFacebook

 National Adjunct (@NationalAdjunct) | Twitter

 #NAWD - Twitter Search 

More #NAWD Links

#ReclaimEducation…#PublicEdNation event, links & videos

...from National Public Education Network's #PublicEdNation event, October 11, 2014. For an event recap that also talks about both education blogging and involving higher education in the quest to #ReclaimEducation from corporations and "education privateers," read Russ Walsh's "Hangin' at Public Education Nation" with 200 hundred or so Badass Teachers, bloggers, school administrators, college professors, parents and students. Yes, bloggers are making a difference -- so will connecting more ed bloggers, whether across borders or discipline and category silos. Or as the adjunked professor commands us adjunct and precarious bloggers, blog on!

Public Education Nation videos still MIA: 

Testing and the Common Core: New York Principal of the Year Carol Burris leads a discussion  with educators Takeima Bunche-Smith, Rosa Rivera-McCutchen and Alan Aja.

Support Our Schools, Don’t Close Them: Chicago teacher Xian Barrett moderates a panel featuring education professor Yohuru Williams, Hiram Rivera of the Philadelphia Student Union, and a representative of the Newark Student Union.

...and the not to be missed closing event, Diane Ravitch and Jitu Brown, In Conversation: The event finished off with a conversation between leading community activist Jitu Brown and Diane Ravitch (both pictured above), who talked about building a movement for real improvement in our schools. Until the video is archived, here's a Bill Moyers interview with Diane Ravitch. You can fill in some gaps following the #PublicEdNation tag on Twitter. @CPFA_forum, @AddieJunked, @precariousfac and @VCVaile followed the event from afar, retweeting posts of particular interest to our "ad-junked nation,"

Keeping calm, regrouping

A good chunk of today went to making the best of an inadvertent ending, but the effort also folded into shaping/ reorganization for Connected Courses  (more here). Instead of "developing networked, open courses that embody the principles of connected learning and the values of the open web," I want to develop my motley collection of blogs, social media, curation/aggregation pages, whatever, into an open information network that incorporates the principles of connected learning and the values of the open web ~ not a course but still for learning.

Intending to delete a duplicated back-up blog on Tumblr, I instead deleted my main account along with associated blogs ~ adjunct, local, personal, special interest~ some more active than others. From the now extinct dashboard, I managed Precarity Dispatches, Adjunct Stories, COCAL Updates and recently re-purposed Equity in Diversity (still finding its way). The last two are gone for good, as explained elsewhere.

Panic beckoned until I remembered that 1-2 (not sure which) had originated on and still be on another account (tl;dr) ... if I could remember the account name, which email address created under and find the password, all of  which I eventually managed. Since this was more like an emergency restart to keep on going than a "new beginning," could I call it an "old beginning"?

The inventory is uneven, incomplete ~ in progress. Nor are all either exclusively "precarity centric" or with an advocacy focus but all are interest related. 

#adjunct realities: crossing domains, navigating networks

PoSR graphic ©1978-2014 Sally A Applin & Michael D Fischer 

…or why I keep having such a hard time keeping up on this blog I now have three fat posts in drafts. The quick catch-up one got fat in a hurry thanks to Vegara v. California, #WeAreNNMC,  #yesallwomen, and a fund-raising campaign for Mary-Faith Cerasoli that is suffering side effects of retaliation and bullying (yes, sometimes #adjuncts abuse other adjuncts ~ power relationships trump solidarity and humanity here too). With the bullying/retaliation and a uses of twitter post, that makes three.  Any one of the so-called quick catch-

Such is our polysocial reality, mine in particular navigating and crossing back and forth across interest domains and social media. Turns out too that PolySocial Reality (PoSR) is a cross-disciplinary sub-domain that

A user's tour of the #PFRNetwork's flagship

…blog—that would be right here & an exercise in the promised short post. I hope the tour will help you navigate this rather crowded, feature packed page

Next comes the guest post by MMStrikesBack on the recent Labor Notes Conference, an original meld of report and reflection. It's longer too but well worth the read...and now...

Welcome to the Tour

#PFR network: blog & #socialmedia directions

…because a) I want your ideas t & b) writing about mine helps crystallize them, especially the most stubbornly inchoate.

First though, comes a brief social media re-cap with a reminder (here it comes) that questions and calls for clarification are always welcome. Post them wherever -- as comments here, on the blog, or on a social media iteration (Facebook or G+ as Twitter seems a tad minimalist for the purpose). Here you can be as anonymous or psuedonomynous as you wish or suits your needs.

PS: #PFR = Precarious Faculty Rising; "network" because it is.

Already I'm blogging more. Not blogging was a sure sign of my discontent. Facebook-busy was just an excuse, albeit not a bad or entirely invalid one. 84 posts in 2013, 202 in 2012. Even bloggers living in a houseboat on the Nile can't deny that message. There are 4-5 posts in draft, reblogs that I need to add copy to and several more in my inbox.

on recent #socialmedia changes

…from @VanessaVaile—I’ve made changes in my network–most visible on Twitter, Facebook, and Blogger—that may have you wondering what’s going on. Short version: New FacultyMajority ~ The National Coalition for Adjunct & Contingent Equity is going big time. You’ve seen the all the press – they are on their way to going truly national and reaching the public the way we’ve always dreamed of.  That means a professional Social Media Director is what they and the movement need now.   

I’m going indie, my choice and preferred mode. Of course, I’ll still be covering New Faculty Majority with all I’ve got, just like I always have, but now I’ll spend more time on other stories.  It’s been a great ride, and I’ll miss taking that final lap with them – just not enough to give up following my own path before it’s too late and I run out of time. We’ve had a good run, from the beginning until now. I expect and sincerely hope that we will still cooperate, share resources and continue working toward the same goals, just on different tracks, perhaps listening to different voices.   

Remember: all the content on my distributed network is open for them and you to use, share and share alike, just like it has always been.

Habits of the Effectively Connected

…on #socialmedia & other online distributed networks, whether for learning, distributing information, making connections, organizing, communicating or just social sharing. 

Published on YouTube, Dec 14, 2013: Habits of Effective Connected Learners with Stephen Downes

Working and learning in an online environment is fundamentally different from working and learning in a physical environment. It becomes much more important to make connections and leverage the store of knowledge at your disposal. Relations between people depend more on cooperation and less on collaboration. Information that was valuable only when withheld is now valuable only when shared. Marketing gives way to meaning. In this presentation, Stephen Downes reviews the habits he has cultivated to thrive as a learner and researcher online, providing practical advice from network theory and a lifetime of experience.

#CEW2013 reflections HT @USAS & others

USAS "Thriller" Flash Mob - video

…in a word, hectic. Others would be productive, exhilarating, strenuous, downright fabulous (would that be two?). Making connections and gains, large and small. The large may count for more in some eyes, how many signatures, followers, shares, likes, RTs and so on, not to mention the status of who by/to/from. It's the social media version academic citation syndrome. There's a whole 'nother post there about that syndrome and what it says about being network clueless ~ but that and counting digital coup is another post. Today we celebrate them all.

The small, often personal and sometimes even private actions are as precious as the large. No one can know which will be looked back on as the tipping point 20 years on. Chaos theory and the butterfly. Cherish, revel in and celebrate all of them. Large or small, all take a bow...follow the lead of USAS flash mobs across the country and dance in the streets

blogging #CEW2013

Joe Berry, CEW 2001, Workplace

…& back to my resolution to blog more now that Campus Equity Week is bearing down on me. This year it is a well oiled, well funded machine spewing out links, resources, events, and so on to be shared, re-posted, RT'd, turned into blog fodder. I can pawn some but not all off on other social media and ever trusty syndication. As sponsoring organization, the New Faculty Majority's still official blog has a feed on the CEW page. With that comes obligation. Obviously, I need a blogging plan to make it through the month - one that does not no point in duplicate. No point in that. Here's what I have in mind:

CEW 2001, Workplace

• personal reflections on CEW experiences; 
• integrating, weaving together, the many threads
• highlighting events and activities; 
• noting key issues
• looking out for orphans
• revisiting past CEW activities and events; 
• lots of pictures
• reviewing the history of Campus Equity Week and Fair Employment Week (Canada);
• covering the coverage
• looking forward

Even with ramped up CEW blogging, I will have to blog like one possessed to make a decent showing for the year. Deadlines and challenges can help. Let this be one that does...

It's Alive! #SocialMedia Musings

Image credit: EDUniverse: It’s Alive!
A New Approach to Communications

…May 23, 2010, post rediscovered in Drafts. Let's apply digital electrodes and reconnect to find out if it's still alive. The general observations are still sound, but the links may not be. There are more drafts to check out and perhaps post, as well as back posts worth revisiting. Digital does not have to be ephemeral, posted and forgotten. Indeed, our all time most popular post, 2,489 views, a guest post by Jen Bills about the public service loan forgiveness program, dates back to 2009 ~ and still gets hits, 100+ just last month.

What has changed? Changes have been more quantitative and qualitative. We have more board and regular members blogging, using Facebook, Twitter, added more social media ~ YouTube, Pinterest, Google+, another bookmarking tool ~ and changed feed readers when  Google Reader closed. Far more important than tools, we are adding connections and growing our network that is part of a larger, loosely connected adjunct / contingent faculty network, substantial and growing. 

The Problem Social Media Cannot Solve

…thoughts for activists and organizers to consider, even if the excerpted and linked article is about marketing, even if paying someone else to build your page not an option (less likely to be an option for the adjunct activist)

Stop. Don’t send that tweet. Don’t post that video on YouTube. It’s time to face facts: It doesn’t make sense to do anything in social media if you don’t have a good Web site.

Your Web site is your welcome mat. It’s your most important selling tool. The ultimate goal of social media marketing is to drive traffic and potential customers to your Web site and then convert those leads into phone calls, meetings and sales (or in our case, memberships, support, signatures, action). And yet, if you are great at social media but have a lousy Web site [or none at all], your social media efforts will just allow you to annoy more people faster. 

If your Web site needs work, do not put it off. 

If you don't have one, get a place of your own online instead of renting from social media. Facebook pages are no substitute. That's what free Google sites, Wikis and blogging platforms are for. More about that and harnessing social media in future posts.

There will be more to come... a series of posts rather like tutorials or a silent, asynchronous webinar in installments to read rather than listen to. For the obligatory something to listen to and look at, I'll look for podcast and video links.

Now go read the rest of The Problem Social Media Cannot Solve (NYT)

Come play the game of #fakeadvice for #adjuncts

…that makes us want to say #thenhireme.  Joe Fruscione initiated this thread at Con Job: Stories of Adjunct and Contingent Faculty, a Facebook adjunct group. 

Entertaining, irresistible and a send-viral must share, it would make a good drinking game too. Just thinking about the lines is enough to drive most of us to drink. Joe opens, 

I'm not sure if this is productive or even appropriate, but I'd like to start a thread about phrases long-time adjuncts are sick of hearing. For me:

"You're a perfect example of what's wrong with the market. You've done so much but still can't get a full-time job. Someone should hire you." 

"With 13 years of teaching, a book, and active research, you should be able to teach anywhere. 

"It's their loss."

Others joined in added theirs

Robert Craig Baum "It's just a question of supply and demand. Americans demand cheap labor." <--- as though the market isn't always undermined and manipulted by crony capitalists and the government Kafka-inspired bureaucrats

Robert Craig Baum: "Why would I hire someone who does not respect himself enough to demand a better salary or benefits?" <--- here's the catch-22 perfectly expressed

Joe Fruscione Also: "Just hang in there. Things will turn around."

Melissa Bruninga-Matteau: Mine is 'well, if you wanted a full time gig, you should have majored in STEM'.

Priya J. Shah: "Just make sure to keep up with your (unsupported) research!"

Margaret Yeoman Hanzimanolis Have you thought about teaching high school?

Vanessa Vaile: "at least you've got a job"

Priya J. Shah: "At least you're doing what you love."

Robert Craig Baum: "It was your decision to not drive [60 miles in a blizzard] to work."

Priya J. Shah: "Well, if only you had been willing to move across the country..."

Priya J. Shah: Clearly I'm pissed. That's not a quotation, that's just me.

Robert Craig Baum: "We're cancelling your three classes because they are underenrolled"   [19 students, not 20] NOT JOKING!

Joe Fruscione: Great so far. How can we get this to more people? Twitter? Etc.? (This is me, not a canned line I hate.)

Now it's your turn: help us get this to more people. Share the #fakeadvice lines you are most fed up with hearing. How? Any and every which way. Add them wherever you see this: here, on our FB page, on the original Con Job thread, as a reply when you see it on Twitter. Reblog, RT and share to closed groups too, 

a global artistic collaboration

…file under ideas for #adjunct action…public art with cause applications…do we have causes? You betcha…where to start? #FAIR_PAY! #dueprocess #ACA fallout, #RTW & organizing, UI & "reasonable assurance," mutual support networks (expect to hear more from the Homeless Adjunct and #newfac social on this one)...more. What are your actions, ideas, suggestions? Please share

The vintage Photo-Automat Booth has transcended into a social networking artistry of global proportions. Upload your portrait and state your personal story or social cause, if you’re caring and inclined towards humanity.

Receive your photo as a black and white poster. Paste it anywhere for the world to see. It is then documented throughout their website, Facebook, and your own community to see. INSIDE OUT is turning into a global artistic phenomena, which has already covered seven continents.

Monday morning

…musing or media musings…banal, too much alliteration…TW3 recap + notes toward a do list that probably won't get done is more like it. TW3 = TWTWTW or That Was The Week That Was. This round is mostly about social media media ventures but won't always be. So here's  more about how the New Faculty Majority spends its Web 20 electrons. More about that page and the NFM Foundation another time.

Facebook analytics are by day by day overlapping 7 day chunks. The New Faculty Majority Facebook page shows 2,869 "reached" between 11/18 and 11/24. Although comments and discussion threads are more active, many visitors still choose to remain anonymous. No one really needs an explanation for why, do they?

Ana M. Fores Tamayo of  better pay petition renown has joined NewFac page admin as a content editor. Having such an active contributor is a huge boost for the page and even more help to me. I'm sure it comes as a relief to board members tired of my nagging. Is Ana aware that FB is just the gateway: micro and other blogging sure to follow? In the meantime, we're making plans to coordinates posts and issues to address. Input and suggestions, please. We'd sure like to see your posts and shared links too and plan to highlight those more.

Support Walmart Workers on Black Friday

…#walmartstrikers share many issues w/ #adjuncts & the academic #precariat…plus setting an example of how to organize mass action…and the courage to do it. I was going to add updates this morning but there are so many ~ better to save them for a separate post or Storify and send you straight on to this basic primer from adjunct comadre Rowan's blog /online journal, which I've been following longer than I've been doing #newfac. It's on our blogroll too. 

by Dan Wasserman, from occasional links & commentary

Uncommon Thought Editor's Note: Walmart is a reflection of capitalistic abuse on every continent where its heel rests. To say that Walmart is a "bad neighbor" would be an understatement. It controls entire markets, including price setting and wages. It ruins small businesses and communities. It abuses its workers in a hundred different ways. Please go to Making Change at WalMart to find out how you can support WalMart workers.

The following is from the Making Change site:

October was a banner month for Walmart workers nationwide.  Each week saw more Walmart workers speaking up and going on strike, to protest Walmart's attempts to silence workers and retaliate against them. The strikes culminated in an announcement at Walmart's Arkansas headquarters that if the retaliation does not cease, workers will make Black Friday a "memorable" day for the company. 

To make Black Friday a success, Walmart workers need the support of community members like you. Our website now features a number of ways to get involved and support Walmart strikers on Black Friday.

Lost in cyberspace, Nov13: 1

…found by Storify on the New Faculty Majority Facebook page & Twitter stream, with pit stops at New Faculty Majority and NFM Foundation Web 1.0 hideouts, YouTube flyby and more. This inaugural issue opens with selected stories and discussions currently unfolding on Facebook: CFP deadlines, conferences and a pay wall. More to come. Join the discussion. 

Ed note: this Storify, created by Vanessa Vaile, collates shared links and visitor comments from NFM's public Facebook page and does not necessarily reflect NFM policy or opinions of other board members.

Reading Room: Omnivore's Choice

…sans explanatory or exculpatory head note of substance, a bit dated  (the last one was more recent). Trying to get back on daily post regimen (bless you Bill and Alan), resorting to working my way through hitherto neglected drafts. Joe latest COCAL Updates were on the schedule for today, but they take rather a bit of reformatting and link checking and I passed my coherence timeline before getting to them. Tomorrow maybe. Also simmering: a piece on injustices and not forgetting them when they drop below the fold or off the monitor. Looking after and calling attention to individual injustices matters as much if not more than surveys, participating in studies, conferences and strategic alliances. Save a life and save the world. 

From THES, Alan Ryan on the faith in education that inspired “Great Books” collections. From Slate, which pop culture property do academics study the most? Bound for glory: A look at academic terms misused and overused in popular vernacular. From TLS, a review of Debates in the Digital Humanities.