ARTS & FARCES internet

Last Thursday, Apple introduced its first education initiative in quite a long while. The iTunes Store has been expanded to include a textbook section. And iTunes U has migrated into app form.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill, and Pearson—among the largest educational publishers—have all agreed to provide textbooks in Apple’s new iBooks 2.0 format at individual price points of US$15 or less. Schools can bulk-license iBook titles, distributing redemption codes to individual students that can then be individually redeemed through the iTunes Store.

But the big news is Apple’s 1.0 release of its iBooks Author app for its Mac platform.

iBooks Author is an ebook authoring application that allows an individual to create interactive ebooks that contain virtually any form of media—static or interactive. Apple’s iBooks ebooks on its iPad (with iBooks 2.0; and only the iPad is currently supported) can now come to life with sections that are watched, listened to, interacted with, and yes, even read. With iBooks 2.0, readers can easily highlight text, make bookmarks, and take notes. The notes can later be retrieved as virtual 3 x 5 notecards.

Available exclusively through Apple’s App Store, iBooks Author is offered at no charge. And it’s incredibly rich while being quite easy to use—especially for a version 1.0 release. Drag-and-drop virtually anything into the application—text (formatted text from Microsoft Word or Apple’s Pages), images, video, Keynote presentations, and raw HTML—and it’s handled automatically. Best of all, if you’re familiar with Apple’s iWork suite—Keynote, Numbers, and Pages—you already pretty much know how to use iBooks Author.

Templates are included for six media-rich textbook formats (Basic, Contemporary, Modern Type, Classic, Editorial, and Craft), but surprisingly there are no provided templates for relatively simple books. And building a template from scratch looks like it’s quite a bit more difficult than it should be. Almost certainly future versions of the product will contain additional templates for different publication types—magazines, newspapers, novels, and everything else. As will some sort of collaborative workflow. Right now, it’s a great tool for an individual, but most publications don’t get made that way.

That’s the good news.

MaryJo Webster, writing for the Pioneer Press reports that Minnesota legislators will examine severance payments and payments for unused sick and vacation time made to retiring and laid off state employees. The paper reported in November 2011 that US$57 million in unused sick time had been paid to retiring and laid off state workers. An additional US$32 million had been paid for unused vacation time between January 2008 and June 2011. A few Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU) employees received six figure payouts. Those figures do not include the University of Minnesota.

Webster reports today that departing University of Minnesota employees received an average of US$4,500 for unused vacation and severance, compared with a US$12,000 average for MNSCU employees. “The Pioneer Press analysis of MNSCU’s payouts did not include the more than US$319,000 paid to outgoing chancellor James McCormick,” writes Webster. “When he retired Aug. 1, McCormick received US$180,000 in severance, plus US$92,965 for unused sick time, and US$46,896 for unused vacation.”

Mark Albert, Mike Maybay, and Erik Altmann for KSTP-TV were even more breathless in their coverage with a definite tinge of denigrating public employees. “For some, it could be a golden parachute—and you’re paying for it,” was their lede.

No, you’re not paying for it. At least not very much. Certainly not anything near what you think you are.

The great state of Minnesota sees fit to fund roughly 20 percent of the University of Minnesota’s budget. That’s a pitiful reflection of how important education is in the current culture, but that’s another argument. Getting paid for unused vacation and severance is earned income and taxed accordingly. It’s not a gift, it’s earned. It’s the institution’s binding obligation.

Make no mistake, I have very little love for the University of Minnesota. I was employed there from 2006-11 as the senior editor and ecommunications manager in the College of Design and laid off in December 2011. When I left, I received payment for unused vacation. My severance pay was initially denied (another argument for another time);  I filed a grievance and almost a year later the University finally paid it.

Work for civil servants at the University is structured such that it’s quite difficult to take vacation—especially more than a day or two at a time. As a result, the University carries a hefty unused vacation liability and long ago instituted a policy that prevented employees from accruing more than two-years’ worth of vacation, something Webster conveniently fails to note in her article. The University also has a wonderful policy allowing employees to donate accrued vacation to other employees that needed it.

Unlike other state agencies—including MNSCU—the University does not pay its employees for unused sick time. After accruing 800 hours of sick time, University employees are allowed to convert half of additional sick time to vacation time.

Severance for University civil servants is paid at the rate of one week’s salary for every complete year of service, up to a maximum of 52 weeks.

The payment I received for my unused vacation is included in the KSTP-TV spreadsheet (.xls; 1.1MB), but is inaccurate. My annual salary was US$59,821 (as evidenced by the severance payout noted below) not the US$62,161.60 reported and the severance payment I received after filing the grievance isn’t included. Here’s how it really shook out:

Gross payment for unused vacation: US$8,260.73
Gross payment for severance: US$4,601.60

So, yeah, I received US$12,862.33 (less about 30 percent tax withholding; double what millionaire presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid, but again that’s another argument for another day) when I left University employment. I also received six months of University contributions to my and my wife’s health insurance.

When Utne Reader was sold in 2006 and I was laid off after almost five years there, I was making a significantly higher salary (even though I was only working three-quarters time), received payment for unused vacation, and received three months salary as severance. As a non-full-time employee, I didn’t qualify for Utne Reader‘s health insurance program.

Today’s New York Times carries an op-ed by the US’ paper of record’s public editor, Arthur S. Brisbane—who, it should be noted, works outside of the Times’ editorial structure—asking if the paper’s journalists should call out lies when they’re encountered.

That the Times would even ask this question is, well, stunning. Like a two-by-four right between the eyes. I had to double-check that this wasn’t an Onion piece.

That Brisbane goes on to actually try to parse how journalists should report lies is doubly stunning. Apparently, pointed questions and calling out false or misleading statements (with a link to supporting evidence) is not even a consideration. Brisbane doesn’t actually write that he’s concerned about journalists’ judgement, but that’s clearly his worry as he writes that readers “worry less about reporters imposing their judgment on what is false and what is true.” And, if that’s the way the wind is blowing, Brisbane wonders how the Times could reveal the truth “in a way that is objective and fair.” Wringing his hands over the possibility of multiple truths, Brisbane asks, “Is it possible to be objective and fair when the reporter is choosing to correct one fact over another?”

Just think about that for a few minutes. Go ahead, ponder.

Look: Calling out lies, misdirections, and misrepresentations is not a question of objectivity and if one has to ask how to do it, it’s too late. You’ve become a stenographer, not a journalist. Revealing the truth has everything to do with fairness and context, but nothing to do with “balance” or “objectivity.” Nor does it have anything to do with vigilantism; contrary to the hed on Brisbane’s piece. It’s the cornerstone of journalism.

This is purely a consequence—unintended or not—of the rush to what Jay Rosen calls the view from nowhere. Still don’t get it? Read Rosen’s interview with himself about it.

What would happen if greenhouses were constructed next to, or on top of, grocery stores? Produce would almost certainly be fresher and the transportation problem of sustainable agriculture would be one step closer to being solved. That’s the idea behind BrightFarms’ on-site greenhouses; the company contracts with grocery stores to operate hydroponic greenhouses on their roofs.

Imagine being able to eat tomatoes virtually year-round—even up here on the far edge—that were grown for flavor instead of transport. Imagine being able to buy lettuce that was picked that morning instead of six days ago (half its shelf-life) in California.

According to BrightFarms, “The average item of food in the United States travels at least 1500 miles. Gasoline can account for up to half the value of a head lettuce or pound of tomatoes.”

BrightFarms reports that it has contracted with 10 grocery store chains and is close to signing with three more. McCaffrey’s Markets will host a greenhouse in either New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Brooklyn-based Gotham Greens—with consulting help from BrightFarms—began delivering produce to New York supermarkets in June 2011. And a demonstration-scale greenhouse will be constructed at the Whole Foods Market in Millburn, New Jersey.