You've seen them on Twitter, you've seen them on Facebook, so why do IT people desperately want to kill the .gif? On today’s show, a brief explanation of social media's most celebrated and much maligned file format.
Plus it's back to school week, and that means kids are heading back to class with brand new pencils, notebooks, and Trapper Keepers - but let's face it - none of these things are as important as that carefully selected, first day outfit.
We’ll also hear from a teacher who says it’s not just introverted kids that face hurdles in a busy, noisy classroom, why introverted teachers have a high burn out rate.
Listen to the full show:
Dressing for Success (In School)
Pencils, notebooks, Trapper Keepers - all hallmarks of the back to school shopping extravaganza that has been part of the American tradition for decades. But let's face it - none of these things are as important as that brand-new, carefully selected, first day outfit. Sure, the back-to-school outfit may be a product of clever marketing, but that doesn't mean there aren't good reasons to head back to school in style.
Hayley Glatteris an editorial fellow at The Atlantic, where she wrote about the science and culture of the back-to-school outfit.
Related: "The Science Behind 'Dress for Success'"
We've got an album of some of our first day outfits over on our Facebook page. And we want YOU to dust off the scrapbook and share yours. It's only fair.
The Rise and Fall and Rise of the GIF
Years ago, in the early days of the internet, a file type came into the world that had the ability to compress an image file without losing any data in the process. There's a lot of technical jargon that goes along with this, but all you really need to understand is this was a pretty big deal. But much like a prescription drug getting used for an off-label use, the graphic interchange format--or gif--started doing a job it was never designed to do. The gif has become the de facto file type for those animated looping videos you see everywhere. And in just a few short years, its dominance on the internet seems to have solidified. So how did a file type that developers at one point tried to kill come roaring back?
Eric Limeris deputy editor at Popular Mechanics where he wrote about the history and cultural significance of the gif: "The Gif is Dead. Long Live the Gif."
We're tweeting our favorite gifs, check 'em out and add your favorites: @wordofmouth
Computer Mouse
You may have heard the internet shake its collective fist this week over Apple's new iPhone, which will no longer feature a dedicated headphone jack. Well, some technologies die before their time, but others just keep hanging on, decades after they were first introduced. This commentary comes to us from Bill Hammack's series, “Stories of Technology”.
You can listen to this story again at prx.org.
Mystery House
Roman Mars is the creator and host of the podcast 99% Invisible - a show that looks at the hidden world of design. This story is about a rifle and a very unusual haunted house.
You can listen to this story again at prx.org.
Introverted Teacher Burn-out
Michael Godsey is a teacher based in San Luis Obispo, California, he's also contributing writer for The Atlantic, where he wrote about the high burnout rate for introverted teachers, and what a loss that is for solitary and withdrawn kids. "Why Introverted Teachers are Getting Burned Out"
10-Minute Writer's Workshop: Andre Dubus III
Andre Dubus III's memoir Townie told the story of his violent childhood on the wrong side of the tracks. Writing was his way out, and he's made more than good, with multiple NYT bestsellers, an Oprah’s Book Club pick, and an Oscar-nominated film adaptation (for his novel The House of Sand and Fog). And he gets out there, as a public speaker and writing instructor for graduate programs, seminars and retreats.
You can listen to this workshop by following this link.
Music from today's episode came to us from:
Broke for Free - Add And & Night Owl
Blue Dot Sessions - Parade Shoes
Podington Bear - Delta
