Drones on the Brain

A short update to highlight work of mine published elsewhere:

1. Morally Guided Drone Strikes - Over at re/Action Zine, I've written a post about playing the card game DRONE, recording my games using Vine, and what sort of moral questions this combination of play/record summons regarding our understanding, or lack of understanding, on the sort of impact drone warfare presents.
2. Dronefire - A short story (gasp, fiction!) I wrote for The State's 'Murmuration: A Festival of Drone Culture'.  It was heavily influenced by a recent reading of Nabokov's Pale Fire, so I hope the reader can forgive my blatant mimicry.

Thoughts for Sale

Today I am releasing an ebook/pdf titled 'Thoughts from the Peasant Muse'.  It contains 23 essays, most of which originally appeared here on my blog.  I've decided to sell it through Gumroad, and for the price of $3 (or more if you feel generous) you will receive epub, pdf, and Amazon compatible versions of the ebook.  It contains 55,000+ words spread over 140 pages, and each essay has an explanatory preface that provides background information on what motivated me to write the piece.  The topics covered span book reviews, Russian history, digital culture, games, and even a episode review of Boardwalk Empire.  In short, there's something for everybody.

Why am I selling essays I've made available for free on my blog?  In part, I wanted to gather a compilation of my best pieces as something to hand my committee when I submit my portfolio.  I also wanted to see how difficult it would be to create my own ebook- and it turns out it wasn't that hard.  But the main reason I wanted to gather my thoughts, place them in a nice format, and sell them is that there are people who enjoy my work- giving them the option to purchase an ebook provides a way for them to directly support me.  I will never place ads on my blog, nor will I change the Creative Commons license from its current CC-BY form.  I highly encourage anyone to take my work, remix it, change it, do whatever, because I am a firm believer that making one's work freely available for others to use in their own pursuits is one of the greatest contributions that can be made to maintain and grow the cultural commons.

Yet it is an inescapable fact that writing for my blog does cost me time and money.  I, generally, enjoy eating and paying my rent.  My dogs enjoy eating as well.  So I'm offering the one meaningful thing I have to offer- my thoughts.

Now to be clear- every essay contained in this compilation can be freely accessed, here, at Peasant Muse.  My other essays that have been published at the likes of Play the Past, The New Inquiry, and The Media Res are also freely available.  Nothing is stopping you from gathering these posts and making your own compilation of my work.  But I would ask that if you enjoy reading what I write, please consider purchasing a copy of 'Thoughts from the Peasant Muse'.  It would mean a lot to me, and it would also help me pay my bills.  And eat.  And let my dogs eat.  My car also needs some work.  You get the idea.

So now that you know why I've put an ebook together, I thought it would be a good idea to explain *how* I put my ebook together.  (For all the images below, click to enlarge)

I used two programs, Pages '09 and Calibre, to construct the layout of the ebook/pdf and convert it into various formats.  Using this template provided by Apple for making ebooks in Pages, I was able to easily make chapters and have a table of contents automatically update as I added more material.  There were some issues with using Pages, however.  For one thing, the images I used as headers would shift to the left margin, even if I centered the image, when I converted the document into an epub file.  After much searching through the forums, I discovered a workaround.  After placing the image, (which as to be 'inline' and not 'floating', as epub doesn't support floating images) you have to create a center-justified 'chapter subheading' just under the picture for it to remain in place after conversion.

Other than that, the process of importing text and then setting up block quotes or hyperlinks was incredibly easy.  While the template provides an 'index' and other pages, I just made my index section another 'chapter'- and did the same thing for the 'About the Author' page.  After I had the layout set up as I liked, I used Pages to convert it into an epub file.

One thing about the cover- using Pages, your cover will not stretch to fill the page.  It will instead create a smaller image (because it has to be 'inline' and not 'floating') that makes your cover look small on the various reading devices.  Solving this problem is easy though- it involves using Calibre, which was the other piece of software I utilized in making my ebook.

Calibre is a wonderful piece of open source software.  It can act as a library for all your various ebooks, and it also syncs with reading devices that are plugged in to your computer.  Once I had my Pages-to-epub conversion complete, I would import the epub file into Calibre.  One of the better features of Calibre is the ability to convert one type of file into another- although the results will vary if you're using a file type (like pdf) that isn't easily adjustable.  Taking my original epub file, I would have Calibre convert it into another epub file.  This sounds counterintuitive, but by doing this I could select my own cover image which allowed me to escape the 'small' cover image utilized by Pages.

Calibre also has the ability to convert epub files into Amazon friendly files, which includes the latest AWZ3 file-type along with the older MOBI standard.  You can also use Calibre as an ebook reader, and I would often send my working files over to Calibre to be converted and proofed for formatting errors.

For pdf conversions, I just used the default export tool found in Pages.  Since pdf files are really just images, you can put in much nicer formatting items like page numbers or lines across the page to separate sections of text.  (Epub/Amazon need to be able to adjust the text based on a users desired font size, hence the inability to incorporate nicer formatting styles)  You are also given more liberty to play with pictures and their placement into the text with a pdf file, but since I wanted some degree of continuity between the versions I decided to include only minor changes to the pdf version of my ebook.

Now some of you might not have Pages- in that case, I suggest using Sigil.  Sigil is another open source software tool used for creating ebooks.  It's a little more stripped down UI-wise, but if you are adept in HTML and/or CSS you can pull off much more interesting tricks with your ebook formatting using Sigil.

I should mention one other minor issue using Pages presented; my converted epub file, when displayed on iBook devices, contained hyphenated words.  The Amazon file did not, and the pdf didn't as well, but the epub file viewed on iBooks would create hyphenations when the word line exceeded the space provided on the screen.  From my own limited knowledge of what was going on behind the scenes, it would appear that Pages epub conversion tool inserts 'soft-hyphens' into the very code of the epub file.  I wasn't able to find a way to strip these 'soft-hyphens' out of the file through Calibre, so those who view my ebook on their iPhone or iPad will have to deal with hyphenated words.  It doesn't look elegant, but if it bothers people they can just load up the pdf version of the ebook and see nice, clean formatting.

I am almost certain that had I used Sigil to create the ebook text, the hyphenation issue wouldn't be a problem.  Live and learn, I guess.

Going through this process only affirmed to me how easy it is to make one's own ebook for all sorts of uses.  I know that when I get back to teaching students, I will give them the essays/handouts in this form because 1) it's easy and 2) giving students essential files in formats that they are more likely to use increases the chance that they will actually use them.

So that's about it.  If you have questions over anything I've gone over, drop me a line in the comments or through my email (jantley AT gmail DOT com).

My Work on Play the Past

Chalk this announcement up to 'meant to say something earlier, but kind of kept putting it off.'  I've been very excited in the explosion of coverage over the past few years on gaming and thoughtful explorations of games under different disciplinary backgrounds, with one of the best examples being the phenomenal Play the Past website.  Here, authors from diverse professional backgrounds mull over topics such as 'The Presence of the Past in Fallout 3', 'What Comes Before the Platform: The Refuse of Videogames' and even 'Lies & Gamification'.

A few months ago, I was asked if there were any topics I though might be good for Play the Past and I immediately turned to the idea of player modifications, as they relate to one's sense of cultural heritage, in the very popular Cold War board game 'Twilight Struggle.'  Next, I tackled the question of 'Validating Model COIN's', which analyzed how game models of counterinsurgencies achieve validation through their combination of play-design mechanics and secondary source evaluation.  I then wrote on a topic, first written and debated here on Peasant Muse, about 'Interpreting History Through Games' which made the argument that board games could be analyzed as 'platforms' as defined by Ian Bogost and Nick Montford in their seminal work 'Racing the Beam'.

I've enjoyed writing for Play the Past.  I find it to be a great venue for exploring the intersections, boundaries and transdisciplinary approaches that are so vital for examining the world of gaming and cultural heritage.  That's why it makes me very happy to announce that I will be joining the fantastic group of authors at Play the Past as a regular contributor.  You can see my very first attributed post (the previous posts listed above were written under a guest writer account) discussing religious elements found in the sandbox game, Minecraft- 'Pilgrimage in (Minecraft) Middle Earth'.

I will still explore game topics here at Peasant Muse- I just now have another venue to engage a different sort of audience, with a cast of supporting authors that, frankly, make me realize how much I still have to learn and consider.  As I said above, this is a very exciting time for those of us interested in exploring games with more thoughtful consideration and I am personally thrilled to be a part of what I consider one of the shining exemplars of how this work can be done.

I'm Not Dead....Yet!

Well I certainly didn't mean for the Muse to go inactive this long.  Truth = I've been very busy finishing up some essays desperately needed for my Graduate Portfolio.  I'm glad to report great progress on that front, so much so that I should be able to post drafts this week.  I have also been working on a few posts for the Muse (shock! gasp!), so if you are a frequent visitor please hang in there and know more words are coming your way.

I will, however, leave you with this little tid-bit of a review on a book I recently purchased from Powells- The Ask by Sam Lipsyte.  I'm not quite finished, but what I've read so far has me pretty impressed.  How could you not, with the main character being a all out loser-ish reject who works, gets fired from, and returns to work again at a small, mostly insignificant Art College in New York.  (Oh the soft spot I have for misguided souls locked in academia's seedier basement of the Ivory Tower)  I've never read Lipsyte before, but based on this work I would probably be inclined to pick up one of his previous works.

Here is a New York Review of Books, umm, review on 'The Ask' if you want a more official take on the novel.  I will say that if you like hijinks in academic settings, then another novel that I have read and highly recommend would be 'Lucky Jim' by Kingsley Amis.

Android Finally Has Blogger App

I'm typing this post on my Samsung Moment (the slow soldier) using the recently unveiled Blogger app for Android.  Seems a little strange this wasn't done sooner, given the power of cellular mobility- not a lot of options posting-wise.  No choice of font for text- you can add a photo from your mobile camera, or select one from the gallery on your phone. 
Could be cool- just have to wait and see.

Peasant Muse on Facebook

One of the more interesting challenges of writing a blog today is finding a way to cut through the sheer noise the internet can hurl at ones media receptors.  While I enjoy writing posts on Peasant Muse as a way to hone my argumentative/persuasive/informative presentation skills, it is nice to receive feedback via comments and generally have more eyeballs read what I think- circulation of ideas and information is one of the primary goals of this blog.  To that end, I have generated a fair amount of traffic here by using my Facebook account to announce when I've finished a new post.  Now I've taken it one step further and created a separate Facebook page for Peasant Muse.

via sha3teely.com

On the right column, you will notice I've put in a 'Like' button.  (Editors Note: I have removed the 'like' button, as I though it detracted from the main mission of Peasant Muse.  The Facebook page is still active, and if you 'like' it you will receive updates about this blog)  The Peasant Muse Facebook page will be the place to find shorter items I don't post here, as well as find out about updates I've made to the actual blog.  The Facebook page will not replace the blog, but instead help flesh out ideas and topics I think are interesting and provide a convenient place where more people can be exposed to Peasant Muse.  

If you enjoy reading what I write here, give me some Facebook love and spread the word.  I've really enjoyed the feedback on posts so far, and look forward to engaging in more conversations in the coming year.

The New, Improved, Fresh Beulah Links!

I know, I know- all two of you were thinking, "Hey, where did Jeremy put all the daily links on his blog?  I need my daily links!"  But the truth, always hard to swallow, is that most people don't want daily links because, really, we are bombarded with links everyday.  So last week or so I decided to group my worthy shareable links for distribution on Thursday- now, instead of eagerly awaiting every day for a few more clicks of internet-inspired bliss, you can just fire up the browser on Thursday and see whats available.  


Also, I changed the banner of the blog in an attempt to bring a little color and design aesthetic to your viewing experience, so if you like it or not let me know in the comments below. 


Time now for......Fresh Beulah Links on 18 November 2010.

From Torrent Freak: A little ditty on the practices of the law firm Davenport Lyons in actively targeting innocent people and accusing them of illegal downloading.  Of course, the firm offered these victims the ability to avoid litigation so long as they paid a fine to the firm directly- which 20%-30% did, even though they were innocent of any charge.  Scummy to the max, this firm is now facing a review from the UK's Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal. 


From D-Lib Magazine:  A small intro to a larger project concerning the use of crowd-sourcing in libraries today.  An excerpt:

  When libraries first started delivering digital resources all these social interactions were taken away from users and they simply got an information transaction by downloading content. It has taken libraries a while to realise that users still want more than a simple information transaction and they want the same and more social interactions than they had in the 'pre-digital' days. In our digital library world they want to: review books, share information, add value to our data by adding their own content, add comments and annotations and 'digital post-its' to e-books, correct our data errors, and converse with other users. And now they are telling us they can do even more, they can organise themselves to work together to achieve big goals for libraries and make our information even more accessible, accurate and interesting. Why are we not snapping up this great offer immediately? How and why should we do it?

From CNN Editorial Page: A new action-hero has taken to the streets- Unemployed Man! 

After his confrontation with Superlotto, Unemployed Man goes on to meet many down-but-not-out heroes in Cape Town, USA, a tent city made of stitched-together capes. Together, this band of heroes for hard times goes on to confront larger and larger economic villains, including The Invisible Hand itself.

From Ars Technica: A nice piece on how we lose scientific data in the digital age.  In my lifetime, (not that long to be sure) i've seen large floppy disks, smaller hard floppy disks, zip drives, usb drives, cd's, DVD's, etc...  To make matters worse, the entire brew ha ha over IP rights and internet security often keeps many scientists from releasing their data at all.  I am all for sharing data among researchers- in History it would help tremendously if one could share documents they have analyzed with a larger audience in a manner more efficient than the footnote.  Tremendous challenge but also opportunity for real innovation in solving this problem.    


And last but not least, from Pro Publica: A story they worked on with Washington Post on the 'Man Behind the Mumbai Attacks'.  Pro Publica is a wonderful news resource and they cover, in-depth, many interesting stories and events that really shape our lives today.  If you don't already have it bookmarked, do so now because it will only help you in the quest to stay informed.


Now that's some links.  Get 'em while they're hot!

Guest Post on Culinary Carnivale

Yet another great reason to at least check out Twitter- you can sometimes find cool writing offers from other bloggers.  Dhympna du Maurier (@Dhympna) asked if anyone was interested in writing a review of board games for her blog Culinary Carnivale.  I snapped up the opportunity and produced something on Twilight Struggle and Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers that was not quite like a review, but still informative as to the games discussed- you can check out my guest post here. 

Video picks & some changes to Peasant Muse

I really enjoyed posting some videos last wednesday, so I think i'll make Wednesday my 'video' day on the blog.  I've also decided to group my 'Fresh Beulah Links' and post them once a week, maybe Monday or perhaps Thursday, mainly because I was tired of only saying 'hey I have new links today!' when I think most people care to read more in depth stuff.  I am working on new posts, but I have some nice videos to share with you today- including one I made myself.


Lets start with someone who is actually known to the larger world, Lawrence Lessig.  Lessig is one of those names you should definitely know, as he is one of the most outspoken advocates for reform of our copyright system in order to allow for greater ability to share and create new culture.  He has released his books for free on his website and makes his lecture publicly available on blip.tv which is where i'm grabbed today's video.  Here is his talk at a conference in Geneva on "Facilitating Access to Culture in the Digital Age":




The other video I want to share today is one I made yesterday.  I'm a super nerd when it comes to board games, and I recently received my copy of GMT Games' Labyrinth in the mail.  Since I prowl the forums on boardgamegeek.com, I knew that I was among the first wave to actually receive my copy so I decided to make an uboxing video!  I plan on using the same techniques that I used in analyzing Twilight Struggle and hope to have a more in depth review ready sometime next week.  Speaking of Twilight Struggle, I am working on my third post in the 'Boardgames as Complex Cultural Artifacts' series and should have that up soon.  But, enough rambling- here I am (well voice only) unboxing Labyrinth.