Ted – tedmaclin.com

The (Non)Convivial LMS

by Tedupdated on October 8, 2021October 8, 2021Leave a Comment

This is a draft paper, based in part on some of my older blog posts and continuing and building on those ideas in conversation with the work of Ivan Illich and others. I’m presenting this today–momentarilly–at the 2021 4S conference. Abstract The last two decades have seen an increase in the number of online university classes operating under any of several commercial Learning Management Systems (LMS). Online classes expanded dramatically in the US during 2020 as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Students, faculty, and administrators frequently assume that LMSs …

Old and new steering rag joints, in E.'s hands

F-100, Materials

Rags and Old Iron

by Tedupdated on July 8, 2021May 4, 2021Leave a Comment

The rag joint doesn’t contain any actual rags; it is made from iron and rubber, sometimes reclaimed from old tires. The edges of the rubber over time show the frayed layering of the original tire, giving the joint a “ragged” appearance.

View of the battery compartment showing rusted, corroded metal and a socket wrench in the process of disassembly.

F-100, Materials

This Corrosion

by Tedupdated on March 10, 2021March 10, 2021Leave a Comment

…we opted for removing the rusted spots with a rotary cutting tool and putting in new sheet metal patches. The new metal is thicker than the old, and has the benefit of a rust-resistant paint coat that the original lacked…

View under the hood, showing the engine, wires, leaves, and a blue air filter

F-100, Materials

Restore, Repair, Revive?

by Tedupdated on February 23, 2021February 23, 2021Leave a Comment

Vehicles are artifacts, and old cars and trucks in particular are woven through with stories. Many repairs–and particularly restorations and modifications–set out to erase those stories and replace them with new ones. For my purposes, I want to keep as many of those old stories as I can. I want this truck to be narratively “thick”–packed with as many chapters and verses as I can fit into a single automobile.

F-100, Materials

Stuff about stuff

by Tedupdated on February 19, 2021February 19, 2021Leave a Comment

The thing is, fixing an old truck can be anthropology, too.

The Ford F-100 Project Truck, front view, sitting in the shop.

F-100, Materials

Ford F-100, Prologue

by Tedupdated on February 20, 2021February 19, 2021Leave a Comment

My daughter is now 11. A few weeks ago, she was watching a show on TV and part of the plot hook was that it is OK for girls to like cars. So already, as that kind of social science geek, I’m thinking about gender stereotypes, media, and how stories are told, resisted, and so on. Then, she turns to me:

Her: “Dad, can we build a car?”

Anthropology, Musings

Online classes and the Unbirth of A.I.

by Tedupdated on December 11, 2018December 11, 20181 Comment

Happy Late Halloween! This could be a horror story. It isn’t, not in the Stephen King sense, but it is an idea that someone could take and develop further. Last year, I wrote a post about online education, in which I argued that all classes–online or in-person–can be looked at as intentional projects in culture-building. I believed then, and now, that online classes can’t be primarily about delivering information to students, and that college classes in particular are about creating learning communities. Along the way, I wandered into some thoughts …

Anthropology, Musings

Now All Restaurants are Taco Bell

by Tedupdated on December 11, 2018November 28, 20182 Comments

[This post will soon be published in the class Zine from my Fall 2018 ANTH4417, Hidden Worlds of Food, class.] Cyril: …I can quite understand your objection to art being treated as a mirror. You think it would reduce genius to the position of a cracked looking-glass. But you don’t mean to say that you seriously believe that Life imitates Art, that Life in fact is the mirror, and Art the reality? Vivian: Certainly I do. Paradox though it may seem—and paradoxes are always dangerous things—it is none the less …

Anthropology, Musings

A Cracked Fragment

by Tedupdated on April 26, 2018April 4, 2018Leave a Comment

What happens when I try to teach a course on the anthropology of anarchism?

The author, holding a bokken (wooden sword).

Musings

The Weapon as Mere Object

by Tedupdated on March 26, 2018February 16, 2018Leave a Comment

This is an edited version of an article that I wrote for the Aikido World Alliance newsletter in the Fall of 2013. As far as I know, Malala Yousafzai has never studied Aikido. Ms. Yousafzai is the Pakistani teenager who, while advocating for the education of girls in the Swat valley, was shot in an attempted assassination. After being shot in the head and recovering, she has gone on to become a global advocate for the rights of women and girls. In doing so, she is directly challenging the …