rennstich.com :: virtual office

Facebook - The Things You Need to Know as a Professor

2006-09-21T18:32:00.000-04:00

You have read about it in the Chronicle, your own children are doing it - but do you really know what exactly goes on in Facebook? As educators we need to be in the know about this social networking tool, to help our students learn to use this technology and control it rather than be controlled by it. Here's my presentation I gave at Fordham in September 2006.

This is an enhanced podcast. To get the most out of it, you should use Apple's FREE iTunes or iPod. There, you can view the accompanying screenshots of the facebook pages at the same time as you listen to the presentation. You can also go straight to special sections in the podcast (look for the "chapters" menu in iTunes). To view this presentation in iTunes, click here.
AAC/34 min/17.2MB/iPod-ready.

All my lectures, talks, and presentations now appear as part of my lecture and talks podcast - to subscribe in iTunes, click here. Otherwise subscribe to this link.

Featured in "Campus Technology"

2006-07-19T16:07:00.000-04:00

Check out this article [Podcasting Made Even Easier] in Campus Technology on podcasting if you are interested in some of the things I have been doing with this technology in the past year.

UNA Model UN Summit & Leadership Conference Briefing

2006-06-26T23:59:00.000-04:00

Click here to download a podcast of my briefing on the Development in the New Millennium, part of the UNA Model UN Summit & Leadership Conference in NYC this June. The International Political Economy has been emerging over many centuries and the development of the world economy has had a significant impact on the development of national economies as well. One of the central hopes of the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) was to remedy some of the major imbalances in the level of development of countries, regions, and individual people in the world. This presentation will introduce participants to the historical development of the international political economy and the impact it has on the development of the global economy as a whole, but also on so-called "advanced" economies and "developing" and "emerging" ones.

This is an enhanced podcast. Simply listen to it on your favourite player, or if you use Apple's iTunes or iPod, you can view the accompanying slides at the same time as you listen to the presentation. AAC/55 min/16MB/iPod-ready.

Podcasting in HigherEd - Presentation at Fordham Technology Conference

2006-05-18T02:20:00.000-04:00

Interested in the use of podcasting in higher education? Check out my presentation at the Fordham Technology Conference this May (22 min). It covers the very basics of what podcasting is, why and how you could use it and features some real-life examples from my classes this semester. Unfortunately you had to be there to see the actual hands-on presentation: I used the very same demonstration I just gave to show how easy files from lectures can be produced (with ProfCast).

This is an enhanced podcast. Simply listen to it on your favourite player, or if you use Apple's iTunes or iPod, you can view the accompanying slides at the same time as you listen to the presentation. AAC/22 min/6.2 MB/iPod-ready.

Globalization as Evolutionary Process: Conference Presentation

2006-04-07T11:56:00.000-04:00

You can view my presentation -- Is Globalization Self-Organization? Global System Formation as a Long-Term Complex Process -- as an enhanced podcast (shows the slides in sync with the presentation, viewable in iTunes and on iPods) or as a video, held at "Globalization as Evolutionary Process: Modeling, Simulating, and Forecasting Global Change,” a seminar sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, meeting at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) (check out a short short video), Laxenburg, Austria, April 6-8, 2006.

APSA Teaching and Learning Conference 2006

2006-02-21T20:12:00.000-05:00

Download the findings of our Technology panel at APSA's Teaching and Learning Conference. We found that technology must be understood broadly - ranging from chalk to blogs, from online communities to group work in face-to-face meetings (also known as "classes" ;-) In other words, they are merely a means (or method) to achieve an ends (understanding). Technologies in this view then become methodology and new methods simply allow us to add to the existing pedagogical toolkit. Meet many of the panel participants as they describe the findings in person.

You can also download a copy of my presentation, Global Encounters: Bringing Global Voices Into Local Classrooms. This is an enhanced podcast. Simply listen to it on your favourite player, or if you use Apple's iTunes or iPod, you can view the accompanying slides at the same time as you listen to the presentation. AAC/49 min/15.6 MB/iPod-ready.

Aid done the iGeneration way (by a Digital Migrant)

2006-01-26T12:41:00.000-05:00

How could I not pass this on? Not only is it a perfect example of the changes currently occurring, illustrating the transformation of the global system, but also does it illustrate the efforts of Digital Migrants such as Peter Gabriel how the the Digital Natives (or as I call them iGeneration) can be reached and communicated to. And it is GREAT music, too! So spread the word, download it, and help the voiceless in Pakistan who were largely forgotten by the world...

New article on the future of global leadership

2005-12-11T22:17:00.000-05:00

My recent article, Chaos or ReOrder? The Future of Hegemony in a World-System in Upheaval looks at the future of the world society from a macro-systemic perspective (now there's a big surprise) and develops two likely future scenarios as to the continued existence and development of the world system at large and the question of leadership specifically.

(German) article on podcasting

2005-09-29T16:48:00.000-04:00

Check out for my first (academic) German article - oddly enough with an English title ;-) It is a practitioners' guide to podcasting in e-learning settings (schools, universities, firms, and government) that shows the current state of the technology and outlines the possibilities achievable with this new technology. Also features screenshots of my new (sponsored) iPod and my favourite new software, Podcast Maker. Check them out, they have done a fantastic job, and you can even interact with the programmers. These kids are rekindling the mythical Mac spirit of old... ;-)

Updated teaching portfolio

2005-09-29T16:19:00.000-04:00

The updated version of my teaching portfolio now contains the summaries of the student evaluations. Also updated the syllabi presentation.

New article

2005-08-05T01:53:00.000-04:00

A forthcoming article, Chaos or ReOrder? The Future of Hegemony in a World-System in Upheaval, can be found in working papers.

The Making of a Digital World:The Evolution of Technological Change and How it Shaped Our World

2005-07-29T21:22:00.000-04:00

This book is now under contract at Palgrave-Macmillan.

Updated teaching portfolio/CV

2005-04-28T17:26:00.000-04:00

The updated version of my teaching portfolio now contains an additional peer review. See also new versions of my CV.

New research posted

2005-03-07T23:06:00.000-05:00

You may now find copies of my latest CV and papers posted here:

A Thousand Years of Networked Firms: The Evolution of Markets and Firms in the Global System
The Making of the Global System: Towards a General Theory of International Relations

"The Gates" in Central Park - take a virtual tour

2005-02-21T11:41:00.000-05:00

Not fortunate enough to be able to take a stroll in the park and experience The Gates yourself? Take a virtual tour, well, that is, follow my route. Here are some pictures I took in the last couple of days. I actually like the "orange shower curtains" but I seem to be the only person here in NY outside of the East Side 5th Avenue art world...
And here's an update: last night (Sunday, that is) it snowed! And right before President's Day! So I trekked over to the Park this morning (together with hundreds of other, slightly more professional photographers... ;-) and updated my walk through The Gates in the park. Oh, come on, why not take a quick walk yourself? ;-)

How to move large files over the web

2005-02-05T18:11:00.000-05:00

I suspect that you have found yourself at some point in the weird situation wanting to send a large file to a student, colleague, friend or your Dad who wants that whole picture book but email simply wouldn't work ("files too large!" "wrong attachment kind, we don't serve those here!" - etc...). As always, the web comes to the rescue. Simply "park" your large files on Dropload, a free (!) and easy (!!) to use service, that allows you to post any sort of file on their server, than sends out an email to the recipient with a ticket to pick up the item at their convenience. No more grumpy emails from colleagues that you busted their email account with that dataset you sent... ;-)

Updated CV, teaching and research portfolio

2005-01-24T15:43:00.000-05:00

The research portfolio and the teaching portfolio has been updated and now reflect my latest research projects, includes my latest courses, and more information on my "Information Literacy Curriculum" proposal currently under review at Fordham University. You may also find an updated version of the CV.

digitalgenerations.net update

2005-01-18T19:30:00.000-05:00

The digitalgenerations.net online platform for my latest research project received an optical overhaul - check it out and feel to post some comments.

Out-of-office msg

2004-12-21T11:31:00.000-05:00

I won't be in NYC from DEC 23-JAN 14. You may reach me via email or SMS me on my German mobile no (+49.179.950.9427). Happy Holidays!

Das Ende

2004-12-19T23:09:00.000-05:00

It became apparent that the new global lingua franca has made my German-version of this site obsolete. The Germans read this in English, too, so I am going with the flow and declare: das Ende.

Too much sun in Australia?

2004-12-18T02:16:00.000-05:00

Check out this analysis on the the $26k purchase of an Australian 22 year-old on "virtual land."

What's up, Doc?

2004-12-01T23:27:00.000-05:00

Bartók, that's for sure - as well as Boulez, Andsnes, and Grimaud. Confused? Find out what's behind these names and what I spend my time on when I am not working on yet more theories to taunt my students with ;-)

Keeping up appearances

2004-11-28T18:39:00.000-05:00

Find out what young scholars will do, to keep up appearances. ;-)

The state of a nation

2004-11-27T11:45:00.002-05:00

Who better than a Frenchman to analyze in my favourite British newspaper the doomsday vision Germans favor these days when it comes to their own country's seemingly helpless future? If you don't have a clue about what's happening these days in the world's third (and Europe's) largest economy, read this. My favourite line was a rather pointed:

The furious energy that, 60 years ago, whipped a beaten, famished and disgraced people into making its devastated land one of the most successful in the world has evaporated. Instead, lamentation and self-flagellation have replaced industry and understatement as the nations stereotypical traits. Nihilism and fatalism have become as German as over-engineered flower bouquets and 30-year-old adolescents.

How true. Especially the last line. In Germany, they have a saying for this state of affairs (which indicates that this is as old a German trait as anything):

"Himmelhoch jauchzend, zu Tode betrübt".
(roughly: "rejoicing from the heavens - until death in grief")

Need a ride?

2004-11-27T09:50:00.000-05:00

One of the (few) rewards for going to the office on a FRI after Thanksgiving is that you get the rare chance to play the elevator concert of the bells: press a button, and seven doors open at once, together with a loud concert of various bells ringing at the same time. So much eagerness to service you is rather rare with those beasts. And as a follow-up on the Worst Cup of Coffee Yearly Award, here's the place of the crime (no need to ever have this place more in focus than in this fleeting-rush-by-snapshot...).