An anthropomorphic cat taking notes in a lecture hall. Image created with Stable Diffusion.
I tell my students that I don’t ask them to do anything that I haven’t done or will do myself. A case in point is using the summer months for a learning boost. LinkedIn Learning offers new users a free trial month, which I’m taking advantage of right now.
While I’ve recommended students to use LinkedIn Learning for free via the NYPL, completion certificates for courses don’t include your name and they can only be downloaded as PDFs, meaning you can’t easily link course completion to your LinkedIn Profile. Due to the constraints with how library patron access to LinkedIn Learning works, I opted to try out the paid subscription so that it links to my LinkedIn Profile. However, I wouldn’t let these limitations hold you back from using LinkedIn Learning via the NYPL if that is the best option for you–just be aware that you need to download your certificates and plan how to record your efforts on your LinkedIn Profile, your resume, and professional portfolio.
For those new to online learning, I would make the following recommendations for learning success:
Simulate a classroom environment for your learning. This means find a quiet space to watch the lectures while you are watching them. Don’t listen to music. Turn off your phone’s notifications. LinkedIn courses are densely packed with tons of information. Getting distracted for a second can mean you miss out on something vital to the overall lesson.
Have a notebook and pen to take notes. While watching the course, pause it to write down keywords, sketch charts, and commit other important information to your notes. The act of writing notes by hand has been shown to improve your memory and recall of learned information. Don’t keep notes by typing as this is less information rich learning than writing your notes by hand.
Even though a course lists X hours and minutes to completion, you should budget at least 50% more time in addition to that time for note taking, studying, quizzes, and exams (for those courses that have them).
While not all courses require you to complete quizzes and exams for a completion certificate, you should still take all of the included quizzes and exams. Research shows that challenging ourselves to recall and apply what we’ve learned via a test helps us remember that information better.
After completing a course, you should add the course certificate to your LinkedIn Profile, post about completing the course (others will give you encouragement and your success might encourage others to learn from the same course that you just completed), add the course certificate to your resume, and think about how you can apply what you’ve learned to further integrate your learning into your professional identity. On this last point, you want to apply what you’ve learned in order to demonstrate your mastery over the material as well as to fully integrate what you’ve learned into your mind and professional practices. This also serves to show others–managers, colleagues, and hiring personnel–that you know the material and can use it to solve problems. For example, you might write a blog post that connects what you’ve learned to other things that you know, or you might revise a project in your portfolio based on what you’ve learned.
Bring what you’ve learned into your classes (if you’re still working toward your degree) and your professional work (part-time job, internship, full-time job, etc.). Learning matters most when you can use what you’ve learned to make things, solve problems, fulfill professional responsibilities, and help others.
This weekend, I installed Debian 12 Bookworm with Xfce desktop environment on my desktop computer, because I wanted a pure Xfce installation on top of a distro running a 6.0 or higher kernel to theme as close to BeOS as I can get.
As I’ve written about before here, I have fond memories of using BeOS on my old PowerMacintosh 8500/120. When I used it on that hardware, it felt like the future. Many of its features were ahead of its time for a desktop computing environment. It was also incredibly easy to navigate and interact with due to its colors, icons, and textured UI elements.
I believe that BeOS and Haiku OS have GUIs that are easy to see and interact with, because they aren’t flattened to death like most contemporary operating systems, which have less contrast and textured borders that hinder visual comprehension and interaction.
I tried installing Xubuntu, but after installation, I was greeted by the login prompt, I entered my credentials, received a black screen (NB: not rebooting–for some reason the DE wouldn’t launch and it would kick me back to the login screen), and was greeted again by the login prompt. Since that was a fresh installation, I was concerned about the long-term stability of it on my computer. Hence, I tried out Debian 12, which installed and booted without a hitch!
I describe step-by-step how to make Xfce mimic BeOS in the sections below.
Window Manager Theme
Perhaps the most notable aspect of BeOS/Haiku’s look-and-feel is the yellow, tabbed window title bar. Some tutorials suggest using the BeOS-r5-XFWM theme, but I opted for the Haiku-Alpha theme, because it only keeps the close window tic box and eliminates the other options such as minimize, maximize, etc., which you can still operate by setting one option to title bar double clicks and others from the drop-down right-click menu.
Decompress the downloaded file and move the resulting folder into ~/.themes (remember to turn on “show hidden files and folders” in your file manager, and create the .themes folder if it does not already exist). Then, go to Settings > Window Manager > select Haiku-Alpha. Also, set the font to Swis721 BT Bold size 9 (see font section below for more info).
Appearance Theme
To give Xfce the general look-and-feel of BeOS’s relatively high contrast interface (by today’s modern, flat interface standards), I installed the BeOS-r5-GTK theme.
Decompress the downloaded file and move the resulting folder into ~/.themes. Then, go into Settings > Appearance > Style > select BeOS-r5-GTK-master.
Next, click on the Fonts tab. For Default Font, select Swis721 BT Regular size 9, and for Default Monospace Font, select Courier 10 Pitch Regular size 10 (see Font section below for more info).
Fonts
There are two essential fonts, which can be easily found through Google searches: Swis721 BT Roman and Courier 10 Pitch for Powerline.
Once downloaded, move the ttf files into ~/.fonts (remember to turn on “show hidden files and folders” in your file manager, and create the .themes folder if it does not already exist).
There are two main areas where the fonts need to be set. First, go to Settings > Window Manager > Style tab and set the Title font to Swis721 BT Bold size 9. Then, go to Settings > Appearance > Fonts tab and set the Default Font to Swis721 BT Regular size 9 and set the Default Monospace Font to Courier 10 Pitch Regular size 10.
Mouse Cursors
The hand mouse cursor is an integral element of BeOS’s look-and-feel. I opted to use HaikuHand reHash.
Decompress the downloaded file and move its folder into ~/.icons (remember to turn on “show hidden files and folders” in your file manager, and create the .themes folder if it does not already exist). Then, select HaikuHand reHash in Settings > Mouse and Touchpad > Theme.
Icons
The isometric view icons for BeOS capture that mid-to-late-1990s era of gesturing towards 3D through 2D designs. Vaporware Mac System 8 Copland exemplified this aesthetic, too (but aspects of it found its way into the eventual MacOS 8 and others incorporated its design elements into shareware like Aaron and the Iconfactory’s innovative icon sets. I created some icons in this style, too.
Decompress the downloaded file and move it into ~/.icons (remember to turn on “show hidden files and folders” in your file manager, and create the .themes folder if it does not already exist). Then, go to Settings > Appearance > Icons tab > select BeOS-r5-Icons.
Desktop
There are BeOS desktop wallpaper pictures that you can download and set as your wallpaper. However, I wanted a simpler solid color background. To achieve this, go to Settings > Desktop. Set Style to “None,” and set Color to “Solid color.” Then, click on the color rectangle to the right of Color, and next, click on the “+” under Custom and enter this hex value for the default deep blue BeOS desktop color: #336698.
Dock
After a lot of head-hitting-the-desk, I settled on using the Xfce’s Panel instead of a more visually interesting dock that used a BeOS-inspired theme (e.g., BeOS-dr8-DockbarX). I was able to get DockbarX installed from source eventually, but I couldn’t get the Xfce4 DockbarX plugin to work with the Xfce Panel. It wasn’t from a lack of trying! It’s worth trying to get those installed–you might have better luck. For me, I needed to move on, so I settled on customizing the Xfce panel to meet my needs and fit the BeOS aesthetic well enough. I went to Settings > Panel > Display tabl to set Panel 1 in Deskbar Mode, set the Row size to 48 with 1 row and ticked “Automatically increase the length. On the Appearance tab, I set the Fixed icon size to 48.
On the Items tab, I clicked the preferences for the Applications Menu, removed the Button title and changed the Icon to the isometric 3D Be logo (this will be an option after you’ve installed the icons pack as described above in the Icons section).
It would be easy to configure the panel to be more like the original Deskbar in BeOS, too. The main changes needed would be to increase the Number of rows to 4 or 5, change the Application menu icon to the flat “BeOS” logo icon (included in the icon pack installation in the Icons section above).
And, it’s important to remember that there was not one, eternal version of BeOS. As with any developed software, it changed over time with its UI and look-and-feel changing with it. For me, the 1996 Developer Release is what I remember most because I ran it on bare metal on my PowerMacintosh 8500/120. It continued to evolve and change after that in ways that I am less familiar with.
QMMP/Winamp Skin
If you use QMMP for listening to music on your computer, you’ll need to grab a Winamp skin to give it the BeOS look and title bar. BeAmp Too is my favorite. There are a few others available if you search for “beos” on the Winamp Skin Museum.
Whichever one you choose, download the zip file for the theme to your Downloads folder. Then, open QMMP, right click on the title bar and choose Settings, click on the Appearances section on the left, click the Skins tab, and then click on “Add…” at the bottom, navigate to your downloaded theme zip file and select it. QMMP will copy the file into the ~/.qmmp/skins directory for you. Select the theme on the Appearances > Skins tab to activate the theme.
Other Tweaks
The following are other tweaks to Xfce that I prefer for daily use.
Disable overlay/auto hiding scrollbars
Edit /etc/environment and add the line
GTK_OVERLAY_SCROLLING=0
Save the file. Logout and login to see the change take effect.
White font for desktop items
Go to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/ and create a file named gtk.css (edit this file if it already exists). Add these lines to it:
XfdesktopIconView.label {
color: white;
}
Save the file. Logout and login to see the change take effect.
Consistent Scroll Bar Speed
In folders with many files, I have noticed that if I begin scrolling but slow down a little, the speed of scrolling after that point for the rest of my mouse-down drag will be EXCEEDINGLY slow. This is by design–a feature called zoom scrolling. Well, I don’t like it. If you don’t like it either, you can tame it by setting the trigger time to longer than the default of 500 milliseconds. To do this, go to ~/.config/gtk-3.0/ and create a file named settings.ini (edit this file if it already exists). Add these lines to it:
[Settings]
gtk-long-press-time=5000
Save the file. Logout and login to see the change take effect.
Thanks to:
An unnamed Reddit user (their account has been deleted) posted an excellent write up of their BeOS-r5-XFCE theming of XFCE in r/unixporn that gave me a roadmap for what was possible.
A cute humanoid robot writing at a desk with bookshelf in background. Image created with Stable Diffusion.
Over the weekend, I made some significant updates to the Generative AI and Pedagogy Bibliography and Resource List page, which includes background, debates, teaching approaches, applications, disciplinary research, and a list of online resources. I started it as a place to organize my own research while sharing it back out to others.
It now features a table of contents at the top of the page under the introduction.
I added about 50 articles and books to the bibliography, which now contains 232 sources.
And, I added three links to the resource list at the bottom of the page which brings it to 42 links.
I will periodically add more entries to the list as my own research progresses. But, it’s important to note that this bibliography isn’t meant to be exhaustive.
The following list of books, anthologies, and articles have been helpful to me as I work to better understand program administration, development, assessment, and internships.
Bridgeford, Tracy, Karla Saari Kitalong, and Bill Williamson, editors. Sharing Our Intellectual Traces: Narrative Reflections from Administrators of Professional, Technical, and Scientific Communication Programs. Baywood Publishing Company, 2014.
Elliot, Norbert and Margaret Kilduff. “Technical Writing in a Technological University: Attitudes of Department Chairs.” Journal of Technical Writing and Communication, vol. 21, no. 4, 1991, pp. 411-424.
Franke, David, Alex Reid, and Anthony DiRenzo, editors. Design Discourse: Composing and Revising Programs in Professional and Technical Writing. WAC Clearinghouse, 2010.
Huot, Brian. (Re) Articulating Writing Assessment for Teaching and Learning. Utah State UP, 2002.
O’Neill, Peggy, Cindy Moore, and Brian Huot. A Guide to College Writing Assessment. Utah State UP, 2009.
Sapp, David Alan. “The Lone Ranger as Technical Writing Program Administrator.” Journal of Business and Technical Communication, vol. 20, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 200-219.
Selting, Bonita R. “Conversations with Technical Writing Teachers: Defining a Problem.” Technical Communication Quarterly, vol. 11, no. 3, 2002, pp. 251-266.
Sides, Charles H. and Ann Mrvica, editors. Internships: Theory and Practice. Baywood Publishing Company, 2007.
Recently, I had an opportunity to speak with colleagues about what Publishing Studies means to me. I edited my thoughts into the following note.
Publishing Studies: Theory and Praxis
Publishing Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that encompasses rhetoric and composition, media studies, history of the book/newspaper/magazine/websites/etc., and practical skills including writing, editing, design, layout, production, marketing, business administration, etc. Publishing Studies programs prepare students for publishing industry careers.
Publishing Studies should be grounded in theory and praxis. Theory provides a foundation for understanding the field and its development. It gives ways of seeing and thinking about the process and purpose behind publishing. Theory helps one be a confident problem solver, an open-minded thinker, and a dynamic life-long learner who can adapt to changing work conditions and challenges. Balancing theory is practical skills. These skills are what help students build a portfolio, gain experience through internships and entry level positions, and obtain a job on their desired career path. Through their understanding of theory, students will understand that the skills they have when leaving a program will only go so far as the publishing industry changes. They can leverage their current skills to grow their skill set over time and be engaged members in their profession so that they know what new trends they should pay attention to and what new skills will keep them competitive in the job market.
Rhetoric
Publishing Studies is founded on rhetoric and composition. Publishing is all about communicating particular ideas to a particular audience using a particular (production scale/mass communication) medium. Knowing audience, rhetorical techniques, modes of communication (WOVEN=written, oral, visual, electronic, and nonverbal), and the writing process are essential skills for anyone interested in the publishing industry. Furthermore, being a reflective practitioner–using journal writing and reflection–supports the acquisition, integration, and improvement of the use of rhetoric and composition principles in the work place. There is a lot of overlap in this regard (as well as in the tools employed in the publishing field mentioned below) with Technical Communication.
Media Studies
Media and materiality are really big components of Publishing Studies, because publishing is all about using mass communication media technologies to reach an audience. Important issues for Publishing Studies from a Media Studies perspective might include: the effect/affect of media on audiences, how does media change over time, how does media influence other media, what biases are built into particular media or how those media are used, and are there issues with particular media at scale (e.g., Facebook and Twitter’s role in Brexit and the 2016 US election). Aesthetics, design, layout, and UX are important, too, and they overlap (as do many aspects of theory) with practical skills.
History of the Book/Newspaper/Magazine/Website/Etc
Perhaps under the umbrella of Media Studies, the History of the Book and other produced media such as newspapers, magazines, websites, social media, and others, are key to a fundamental understanding of Publishing Studies. The field encompasses many different forms of mass communication technologies, and the intertwined histories of these media provide a useful context for how we are at this particular moment in publishing history while also revealing how the history of publishing is not a Whig historical progression, but in fact, contains many interesting dead ends and forgotten technologies whose time might not have been right but contained some aspects that were useful and might deserve revisiting in the present. Layered in these histories are issues of labor, capital, production technologies, world historical events, and societal movements, all of which have influenced the development of the publishing history.
Practical Skills
Praxis is tempered by theory. Theory is made meaningful by praxis. The two support one another and enrich one’s experience of the publishing field in a way that helps propel students toward dynamic careers instead of cookie-cutter jobs. Publishing careers include writing, editing, design, layout, printing, IT, programming, procurement, representation, marketing, fact checking, research, and business administration. All of these rely on a basic set of writing, communication, and interpersonal skills, and each branches off into a discrete set of current (but always changing) skills involving knowledge-based work (e.g., planning, research, summarizing, extrapolating, etc.) and tool-based work (e.g., Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office, CMS, etc.). Each career path’s set of widely accepted skills (i.e., those skills that employers are looking for in employees) are those that should be researched and taught by faculty. Besides their course work, students can learn more about these through trade publications and books, mentors, and internships.
