Welcome!

Welcome to A Billion Subtle Thoughts! This blog was created by us, Ben Fink and Robin Brown, as part of the course "Science and Culture" at the University of Minnesota this spring (CSCL 3331, Spring 2012), as a space to collaborate and create knowledge together.

Take a look at the handout (posted to Moodle) "Blogging for Dummies" to learn the details about blog posting.  Take a look at the Work Schedule for each unit (posted to Moodle and handed out in class) to learn exactly when required posts and comments are due. You are also welcome and encouraged -- both you in the class, and you who may have stumbled upon this blog from elsewhere (this is a public space!) -- to post or comment at any time. We simply ask that everyone, students and non-students alike, follow the four rules for cooperative conversation set down by the linguist H. Paul Grice...

1) QUALITY. You are free to express any viewpoint on any issue, but you must back any statement you make with sufficient evidence. This will often mean citing a page in a book, or other relevant sources.

2) QUANTITY. Express your viewpoints thoroughly, with good argument and evidence; at the same time, avoid writing unnecessarily long or repetitive posts.

3) RELATION. Keep your posts and comments relevant. Read other people's posts -- including our posting assignments -- before you write posts or comments, and we'll keep a much more coherent conversation going.

4) MANNER. Write as clearly as possible. The point is to make yourself clear to the rest of us, and to convince of the truth of your arguments.

...as well as one fifth rule of our own:

5) RESPECT. Please respect all participants in the discussion at all times -- even (or perhaps especially) when you must respectfully disagree. No flame wars, please!

And as always, if you have any trouble posting, or understanding posting assignments, or in any other way, feel free to contact us.