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You’ve reached the Web home of Josh Braun.

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‘Chuck’ and the Future of Television

Zachary Levi as Chuck My thought for the moment is about the Warner Brothers/NBC television series Chuck. It’s a terrific show and, frankly, I’m hooked on it. More... 

‘Chuck’ and the Future of Television

New Book By Eric Simons

On the short list of my most talented friends Eric Simons has always hovered near the top.  An excellent and generous guy, he was one of my best friends in college and remains... 

Eric with a plaque dedicated to Darwin, near the top of Cerro La Campana in Chile.

Studying the Web With Free/Open Source Tools

If you don’t follow this site (overwhelmingly likely), I’m a grad student doing social science research on the Web.  This sounds simple, and being employed at a university,... 

sign reading, Oh, Yes It's Free!

South America Journal #4: Epuyen

“…and they never found the body.  I’m told the lake is very deep,” said the hitchhiker in Spanish as he left our rental car. “What came before that?”... 

Josh in Epuyen - link to story
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Journalism, New Media
& Digital Culture

Media

Technology

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In This Section:

Journalism, New Media
& Digital Culture

As a journalist, academic, and computer nerd, I’ve watched with fascination as Internet denizens and digital distribution have created shifts and rifts in our media landscape. What do blogs, wikis, digital video, and all the rest mean for traditional journalism? What does journalism mean for them? And what are the right questions to be asking about all these things?

What I’ve Been
Thinking About

Reviews, Opinion & Commentary

Surviving (in) Academia

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In This Section:

What I’ve Been
Thinking About

Here’s where you’ll find any random thoughts or commentary on life, the Universe, and everything that I’ve seen fit to share with the world for one reason or another. Some entries are on academia and what I do for a living, and others focus on a wide array of different things. Take a look, see what you think, and please chime in whenever you like.

Adventures &
Open Journals

One-Off Musings

Open Journals

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Adventures &
Open Journals

Over the years, I’ve kept a number of open travel journals. Here on this site, I’ve collected a number of my favorite entries since 2005. Think of them as vignettes—snapshots both of the places I visited, and from various moments in my life.

Latest Work

Academic Presentations & Publications

Freelance Journalism

Work by Friends

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Latest Work

Here’s where you can find out where I’m publishing and presenting my research—among other things. When I’m not doing research or grading papers, I moonlight as a science journalist. I’ve worked for Seed Magazine, NPR, and Scientific American online. I also enjoy putting a spotlight on work by my friends, and you’ll find some of their work here, too.

Synergy Box

'Chuck' and the Future of Television

My thought for the moment is about the Warner Brothers/NBC television series Chuck. It’s a terrific show and, frankly, I’m hooked on it. More so than I have been on any show in a long, long time. I could wax eloquent about all the reasons I like it, but there are entire [...]

Read More

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The Synergy Box

Far too much time, in both web and print publishing, is spent agonizing over how to shoehorn pieces of writing into one section of a publication or another. In real life we celebrate when our various interests converge, and that’s what I’ve attempted here. This box is where you’ll find the latest post that reflects several of my interests. The connecting lines show you which those are.

Extended Navigation //

Click Below to Visit Other Portions of This Site.

Collaboration

Portions of Wide Aperture dedicated to collaborative projects between Josh, his friends and colleagues.

Project Management Tool: A Basecamphq-style project management site, running on the open-source ProjectPier platform.
ProjectWiki: A secure wiki for use by Josh and his collaborators on a wide array of projects.

Community

Beyond merely serving as Josh’s homepage, this site is also intended to feature work by his friends and encourage discussion between them. Here are a few community tools running on the site right now.

Blue (Social Bookmarks): A social bookmarking site, patterned after Del.icio.us, but used primarily by Josh and his friends.
Blue Highways: A discussion board and online community for young journalists and academics.
Chat Room: An IRC-style chat room for anyone and everyone. Stop by and see who’s online.

Online Experiments

These are fleeting projects and resources, installed and/or developed by Josh as tools or experiments. They may or may not become permanent features of the site.

Course Projects: A selection of online projects done for classes at Cornell.
Sarah’s Kitchen: A piece of software that manages your recipes and keeps track of every ingredient in your kitchen. (Permission Required; Contact me for a copy)
Wide Aperture Reader: A social reading tool that lets you view and discuss books online with friends. (Permission Required)

Course Information

I periodically provide information and resources here for Cornell courses in which I assist.

Lecture Resource: Content and resources from a guest lecture I gave this semester on on “Healthcare in Television Entertainment.”

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