2008 preview

Our lil’ family trip to the er…deep south of Durbuy was cut short by varicella, aka chicken pox. Ain’t nothing 4 year olds love more than an itchy skin rash, blisters and a mild fever. Lil’ fella is doing better thanks to mommy’s TLC.

Since this is my comeback post, I thougt I’d preview my 2008 blog themes.

• research: 2008 will bring BPR3 certified posts about peer-reviewed research (research papers & people that inspire me), shameless posts about NT&T and the ups and downs of my own PhD thesis, due in March 2009. That gives me 15 months until the submission deadline. By that time, I’ll be tired of blogging, looking for a job and anxiously awaiting my defence.
• music: I’m starting off 2008 with a weekly installment of soul classics for your entertainment. Starting January 6, iTalk&Text will be spreading the gospel of soul music across the blogosphere. Old school to new school, Marvin to Maxwell, Motown to Memphis, Amy to Aretha and back. I’ve got a growing list of guest-bloggers lined up. Holla back if you want to get wax poetic about a track you find particularly soulful.
• triathlon: expect random thoughts from a race amateur and organizer about my race calendar, preparation, pitfalls, injuries, reports, weight, fitness, sponsorship deals, registrations, regulations and tribulations.

In the meantime, head on over to Blunted Soul for Burial‘s otherworldly remix of Jamie Woon‘s Wayfaring Stranger. Here’s the original video for this majestic track.

holiday greetings from vzw TriKa

Xmas disclaimer

These world wide web pages are provided as a public waste of time service by yours truly. In order to preserve my mask of sanity, I’m off on a family retreat with wifey and the chillens, a few bottles of Brunello di Montalcino 2002, my bike and my iPod. Talk to you in 2008.

DNS

Meant to run the Gaston Roelants 10k street race today, but laid an egg instead. Here’s the (updated) abstract:

Framing the news: an ethnographic view of newswriting
Tom Van Hout & Felicitas Macgilchrist

This paper is an ethnographic case study of a senior business reporter as he discovers, writes and reflects on a news story. We ‘follow the story’ from its entry in the newsroom through the review process during a story meeting and the writing process up to the point the story is filed for copy-editing. Drawing on ethnographic and keystroke logging data, our data shed light on how a news story about Russian gas exports to France is discursively constructed. In this entextualization process, we focus in particular on a frame shift in the lead and argue that this shift is led primarily by technological rather than overt ideological concerns. The detailed description of one newswriting process supports the argument that framing is not a deliberate or premeditated act but rather an interpretive practice achieved within the demands, relationships and discourses that anchor business news as a social institution.

Wise words from co-author Flyss: mixing academic and athletic frames is hard.

Keep an eye on this startup

Acquia, the startup of open source Wunderkind Dries Buytaert, has raised a cool $7million in venture capital. Not too shabby for a 29 year old PhD student. I never imagined I could be excited about a software company. Here’s to a swift IPO.

Workout tunes

In no particular order, here are my 10, make that 11 favorite tunes for off-season workouts (tri speak for LSD runs in the winter cold).

• Jazzanova – Talk about my future | Ideal for those 8′, 165bpm intervals.

• James Pants – Ka$h (Peanut Butter Wolf Remix) | 80ies inspired, synthesizer funk.

• Bahamadia – Uknowhowwedo | dope lyrics & beats. Rock, rock on.

• 4hero feat. Carine Andersson – Morning Child | an instant classic.

• Eric B. & Rakim – Juice (Know the ledge) | Rakim at his lyrical finest. Textbook flow.

• D’Stephanie – Funk up my day | Nothing but gravy from Antown’s legendary DJ.

• Ben Westbeech – Bright future| a hypnotic track. think long, slow runs.

• Amerie – Gotta work | put this on during a party and see what happens.

• Dee Edwards – Why can’t there be love | A steaming Detroit soulfunk gem

• Mark Ronson feat. Amy Winehouse – Valerie| Vintage, juiced up soul.

• Souls of mischief – 93 ’til infinity | a massive hip hop track from the Bay area.

Drop me a line in the comments if you want any of this music.

collaborative writing

One of the unheralded joys of life in academia is that you are expected to publish research in international, peer-reviewed journals en masse. This can be an arduous and time-consuming process: the time between submitting an article and having it published can take up anywhere from one to three years. In between, there’s waiting for feedback, reading reviews, sending in revised versions, more waiting and alcohol. It’s a good thing I’m not doing this on my own. Providing her insights and joie de vivre is my pal and partner in crime, Felicitas – the best thing to come out of Germany since Jazzanova.

Jingle bells by Rasheed Wallace & Co

Courtesy of pop culture guru and inimitable sports columnist Bill Simmons. Gotta love the insanity (and basketball genius) of Rasheed Wallace.

Houston, we have lift-off

I’m happy to announce that the NewsTalk&Text research group has been formally approved by Ghent University. This means that NT&T is now an official research group of the Faculty of Arts at Ghent University. Yay! All we have to do now is publish A1 articles by the dozens, acquire research funding, teach seminars, train students, organize conferences, panel discussions and guest lectures, provide community service and keep the website up to date. And oh yes, I have to write a PhD thesis. I’d better get to it.

American gangster

Jigga’s back, MJ style.